Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Saturday's extraordinary meeting of the European Council was very important for the people of Ireland, North and South. Several weeks ago, the EU set out its draft guidelines for the Brexit negotiations and I expressed at the time my concern that the Irish Government had failed to ensure that the interests of all the people of the island were sufficiently reflected in them. I understand there were some efforts to have this corrected with only limited success. The minutes of the summit now state that in the event of Irish unity, which was not even mentioned in the initial draft guidelines but is now in the minutes of the summit, and in accordance with international law, the entire territory of such a united Ireland would be part of the European Union. That is a welcome development even though it is not part of the guidelines. However, I noted earlier that it is hardly the coup that some claimed. I was bemused by the Taoiseach's claim that he had heard no such claims. Modesty suits and becomes him.

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