Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

The Ireland's Future event on Saturday was wonderful. With 5,000 people and ten political parties gathered there, it was probably the most broadly based conference in this country so far on the united Ireland that is about to happen. It is obvious to me that we are at the precipice of great change because there is no unionist majority in politics any more. There is no majority in the Assembly or at Westminster for the Union. Political polls show that there is no majority for the Union. I would say that the conditions for a referendum exist now. The only way to find out what the view of the people is is to hold a referendum. Government by speculation is not good, nor is running away from democratic decisions.

The greatest threat at the moment is that there will be an election called by the end of October if the DUP does not sit in the Executive. That is a serious crisis. Worse still, the DUP is threatening not to allow devolution to happen at all in future if it does not get its way. Is reform of the institutions at Stormont not needed so as to ensure that one political party cannot hold them to ransom in such a way again?

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