SF link-up with SNP and Plaid may set back cause of Irish unity, says Taoiseach

Mr Martin questioned whether Sinn Féin was on the right strategic track after the party signed a memorandum of understanding with the SNP and Plaid Cymru to put pressure on the UK government to call unity referendums in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

Speaking to the media at the National Ploughing Championships in Screggan, Tullamore in Co Offaly, the Taoiseach was asked about the move by the three parties in Cardiff on Monday and by comments made by Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O’Neill at the event that he was not doing enough to advance the cause of Irish unification.

“Fundamentally, I would disagree,” said Mr Martin.

“I’m not into campaigning, but I would make the point that strategically we have never embroiled Northern Ireland in British politics.

“We’ve always identified the north as exceptional, as being an issue in terms of the partition of Ireland.

“And I think strategically I’m not clear that Sinn Féin is on the right track at all, and may even set back unity by that move that they’ve made.”

US president Donald Trump put the future of the regions of the UK in the spotlight when he declared his support for Irish unity during a visit to Ireland at the weekend.

In response to a question from the Press Association after his meeting with Mr Martin in Dublin on Saturday, the president said he “would love to see” the island of Ireland unified, adding: “It’s going to happen eventually.”

Speaking to reporters in Co Offaly on Tuesday, Fianna Fáil leader Mr Martin said his role as Taoiseach involved working with the UK government to advance and progress relations between the UK and Ireland; between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland; and between the two main traditions north of the border.

“That’s how the Good Friday Agreement came about – that the two governments anchored that with all of the political parties in Northern Ireland, developing principles such as parity of esteem, respect for each other’s traditions, and endeavouring to move in a reconciled way towards the future,” he said.

“Fianna Fáil is a party that believes in Irish unity, and we have made our significant contribution, particularly to peace on the island of Ireland, in respect of the Downing Street Declaration, of course, the Good Friday Agreement and, latterly, the Shared Island Initiative, which is the most consequential initiative of any Irish government since the Good Friday Agreement – there can be no question about that.

“And it (Shared Island Initiative) is being very, very well received in Northern Ireland, across the border and across the island actually as well, and we will continue to make progress on key issues.”

Mr Martin said his current focus was on progressing new mechanisms to deal with the legacy of the Troubles and on examining reforms to the institutions established under the Good Friday Agreement.

The Taoiseach’s comments were put to Ms O’Neill by a reporter as she gave a press conference a short time later at Stormont in Belfast.

“Micheál Martin would need to catch up with the debate,” she replied.

“He actually has an obligation in which to prepare and plan.

“We’re calling for some time now for the Taoiseach to actually step in to this debate, to actually encourage the debate, to create a forum in which we can have the preparation and the planning. We don’t want to see a rinse and repeat of Brexit here.

“What we want to do is have an organised conversation.

“And, actually, he has a constitutional imperative in which to do so.

“He’s failed thus far, but he should actually change his tack.

“He should actually take a different approach and actually catch up where the conversation is.”

Asked if Sinn Féin’s alignment with the SNP and Plaid Cymru had embroiled Northern Ireland in the politics of Great Britain, Ms O’Neill responded: “Britain embroiled itself in Irish politics a long, long time ago whenever they partitioned this country, so I think the conversation is now exactly where it needs to be.

“We need to break away from the shackles of Westminster.

“We need to take control of our own destinies here at home.

“The people here should have the right to decide the constitutional position because that’s what we voted for when we got the Good Friday Agreement.

“I think this change is unstoppable, and people can choose to dig their heads in the sand and actually ignore what’s happening around them, or they can choose to enter into the conversation and the debate.

“And the constitutional imperative is on the Taoiseach, and I think Micheál Martin is out of kilter with his own party, he’s out of kilter with the conversation across the island of Ireland, but he can change it, and I encourage him to do so.”