A TALE OF TWO HEADLINES

Yesterday, the Irish News reported that DUP MP Gavin Robinson advised unionists to prepare for an Irish unity referendum and to build the case for continued partition. Former DUP leader Peter Robinson called those who refused to acknowledge the reality of a referendum as “Border Poll Deniers”. Meanwhile, in Dublin the Taoiseach, Michéal Martin continues to oppose a unity referendum and refuses to promote Irish unity. This leaves Martin at odds with the constitutional duty to promote unity, the Good Friday Agreement, and his own party's aims.

Martin’s leadership has been about clinging to power at all costs, and for him that means continuing partition! Think about that for a second, the Taoiseach wants Ireland to remain partitioned. The Republic was created at the expense of the North. The North has borne the brunt of British oppression the last 100 years, and the Taoiseach doesn’t mind if that continues.

But the writing is now very bright on a very big wall. It is a dereliction of duty for an Irish government to refuse to promote or prepare for Unity. There will be a unity referendum, and whether it's led by Sinn Féin Ireland alone or with help from the political establishment in Dublin it will not be stopped. America can and will help bring it about.