Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. The majority of people in the Republic would like to see a united Ireland in their lifetime. Perhaps they feel less urgently about it compared to previous generations - I do not know, but that is my instinct - but they also have concerns about the wisdom of the recent headlong rush into calling for a border poll. That rush was sparked by the result of the Brexit referendum nearly five years ago. The immediate response by Sinn Féin, among others, was to call for a border poll. That was unwise and unhelpful in terms of where we want to go, that being, a shared island and continuing to find ways to live together and build a better future. To be frank, there has been a crassness about the sudden uptick in the demand for a border poll that shows an attitude that has damaged the chances of a united Ireland for the past 100 years and continues to do so.

It makes me wonder about the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement, which states that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland shall call a border poll "if at any time it appears likely to him that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a united Ireland". I have been thinking about this recently because I have heard at the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and elsewhere people talking about trying to prise open what it means.People have sought through the courts and otherwise to get the Secretary of State to describe the mechanisms by which he or she could come to form a conclusion that it appeared so likely to him or her.

While the Good Friday Agreement is important now and was vital in 1998, it makes me wonder whether we should be thinking in terms of a united Ireland or continued union with Great Britain. Is it possible that the future involves rethinking what the Good Friday Agreement has to say? Is it possible the future involves letting matters settle for a long time and trying to build civic and social co-operation, overcoming prejudice and disadvantage in both communities and looking to a future where there can be a less tense, antagonistic and tribalistic negotiation among people of goodwill about what the future for our countries would look like? Does it not make more sense to see how Brexit will pan out, what it will mean and where Britain will be in ten or 20 years' time? Does it not make more sense to wonder whether, in 20 years' time, we will be talking about something like joint sovereignty again? If we fall into the trap of a crude majoritarianism - I am not the first to come up with that phrase, but it is one we all need to stay with - there is a danger of us imposing on an unwilling minority the way our own kith and kin - for many of us, our co-religious in the North - were crudely imposed on as a minority in the past.