Monday 9 May 2022

Wiil the election of Sinn Fein lead to the break up of the UK

 

With the election of Irish nationalist, Sinn Fein, as the biggest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly at Stormont, and the prospects of a future Sinn Fein government in Dublin, demands for Irish unification will increase. 

Given that Brexit has led to the annexation of Northern Ireland (N.I.), from Britain by putting a border in the sea, which has left N.I. in the E.U. single market, while Britain has left it, it seems likely that at some time in the future there will be a referendum on Irish unification on the island of Ireland. Already, many people in N.I. hold both British and Irish Citizen passports and there is no real physical hard border between the two countries to speak of. Even the hard-line Unionist, Ian Paisley jr, the D.U.P. MP for North Antrim, who opposes unification, is advising his constituents to apply for a Republic of Ireland passport. Following the Brexit referendum in 2016, he said on Twitter: "My advice is if you are entitled to a second passport then take one. I sign off lots of applications for constituents." In the 2016 Brexit referendum, N.I. voted 55.8% to remain in the E.U. and the Republic of Ireland is in the E.U. Scotland also voted by a majority to remain in the E.U. 

 In May 1998, a referendum in the Irish Republic led to the removal of the 62-year old territorial claim to Northern Ireland. Article 2 of the Constitution of Ireland, as amended, now grants the right to be "part of the Irish nation" to all those people born on the island of Ireland." The Belfast Agreement recognises the right of the people of the island of Ireland, to bring about a united Ireland subject to the consent of both parties. With election of Sinn Fein, complications over Brexit, and demands for Scottish independence, are we now witnessing the inevitable break up of the United Kingdom.

No comments: