Harris says people should be prepared to talk about shape of a new Ireland

By David Young, PA

Politicians should be prepared to talk about what a unified Ireland would look like, Tánaiste Simon Harris has said.

The Tánaiste was commenting after his Fine Gael party’s candidate for the presidency, Heather Humphreys, suggested unification could involve the retention of a devolved parliament at Stormont.

Ms Humphreys insisted that people in Northern Ireland who have a British identity had “nothing to fear” from constitutional change, as the Presbyterian from Co Monaghan highlighted her own experience as part of a “minority community” in the Republic of Ireland.

Her remarks came on the same morning that political leaders from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland gathered in Dublin for a meeting of the North South Ministerial Council.

At a post-meeting press conference, Mr Harris, Taoiseach Micheal Martin, Stormont First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little- Pengelly were asked about Ms Humphreys’ suggestion.

The Tánaiste said: “I think what Heather was doing today was showing a sophisticated understanding of the fact that these conversations, when they need to happen, that they need to consider all of these things.

“And I’ve heard other politicians talk about these things as well. You know, you’ve got to be willing to talk about what a new Ireland would look like, and I think that’s what Heather was doing.

“But we also need to be very honest about what the role of the president is and what the role of the president isn’t.

“And the president of Ireland won’t decide when there is or isn’t a referendum – that’s a matter for the Secretary of State of the British Government, and the president of Ireland won’t decide government policy.

“But what the president of Ireland can do, and we’ve seen people do this very well – we’ve seen (former president) Mary McAleese do it extraordinarily well – is use their office, use their power, their soft power, to facilitate conversations, to bring people together, to promote reconciliation, to prompt and spark debates, to visit communities, to listen.

“And I, of course, believe that Heather is eminently and uniquely qualified to do that in the years ahead.”

Mr Martin was not drawn on the issue of retaining a devolved Stormont post-unification. He said his immediate focus was on reconciling people across the island.

“Reconciliation involves a lot of hard work and, in my view, we should focus on connecting and reconciling people from different communities, different traditions, north and south, and creating a far more natural, seamless interaction between peoples. And that is easier said than done,” he said.

The Taoiseach added: “My agenda is really how do we share the island together in a pragmatic and effective way that benefits people, the people who live on the island.”

You could be talking about devolved government in Northern Ireland as part of an overall Irish solution

Ms O’Neill said she welcomed that the question of Irish unity was at the “heart of the presidential debate”.

“I think that’s only a healthy thing,” she said. “I think more and more people are entering into the conversation.”

The Sinn Féin vice president added: “My call, I suppose, in terms of the Irish government’s role here, is that the planning needs to happen, the preparation needs to happen, and I really want to see that happen at pace. And I think that will be crucially important.”

DUP deputy First Minister Ms Little-Pengelly insisted there was no momentum towards constitutional change.

“I think there are so many issues that we need to tackle, around health, around education, around growing our economy,” she said.

“I do believe that we better serve the people of Northern Ireland by focusing on those issues that really impact on them, day in and day out, week in and week out. That’s what I am about.

“I don’t see any momentum towards the abolition of Northern Ireland. I don’t think any of the figures or the statistics play that out.

“I think that people are attempting to build that momentum. But I’m not going to be distracted by that. I’m going to focus on delivering for Northern Ireland and making Northern Ireland the very strongest it can be.

The issue of reunification and accommodating unionists within any new Ireland was debated between Ms Humphreys and rival independent candidate Catherine Connolly on an election debate on RTE Radio One on Friday morning.

“You could be talking about devolved government in Northern Ireland as part of an overall Irish solution,” Ms Humphreys said when asked how a British identity would be reflected within a united Ireland.

“Those are all conversations that we have to have. And there’s no point in pre-empting anything before you go in, you talk to people.

“The first thing we have to do is build trust. If we don’t have trust, we have nothing. So we have to build trust. We have to deepen understanding.

“And I can see that very clearly – there’s still a lot of misunderstanding out there, so we have to deepen that understanding, build trust and work together, because I believe that we must unite people first, as John Hume (former SDLP leader) said, and that is so, so important.

“And I feel I’m very well placed to bring that conversation forward and to bring and work on it, to work towards a united Ireland.”

Ms Humphreys said that if elected, she would make sure the president’s residence at Aras an Uachtarain in Dublin would be a “safe place for unionists to come and outline their concerns”.

She said she would also seek to facilitate conversations between unionists and nationalists.

Galway TD Ms Connolly said a reunified Ireland would have to “respect and value differences”.

“I will do that as president in as much as I can,” she added.

Ms Connolly said the Government was not doing enough to examine the issues around unification as she claimed a report on constitutional change compiled by a parliamentary committee in Dublin had been left “sitting on a shelf”.

“My vision as president will be to reach out to communities on all sides,” she said.

“I’ve visited Northern Ireland repeatedly, I visited different communities.

“I will facilitate open forums in relation to listening and building on the work that’s ongoing. It’s really important, the meticulous, methodical work that is ongoing by civic organisations on the ground.

“What’s lacking is a government response. There was a cross-party committee that reported last year. That report is sitting on a shelf.

“That committee asked the government to prepare a green paper to outline the issues and outline the direction for a united Ireland.

“That hasn’t happened unfortunately.”