The new Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, predicted on Sunday that a referendum on the unification of Ireland would be held within the next ten years, in an interview broadcast the day after her historic assumption of the presidency of the local government.
After two years of political paralysis, the 47-year-old leader of the Sinn Fein party in the British province on Saturday became the first republican in favor of Irish reunification to become prime minister in Northern Ireland.
“My election as prime minister shows the change that is happening on this island,” O’Neill said in an interview broadcast on Sky News on Sunday.
She added, “We can share power” between Republicans and unionists who support keeping Northern Ireland within the United Kingdom.
“We can make governance stable, and we can work together every day on public services, as well as achieve legitimate aspirations,” she continued.
O’Neill responded positively when asked if she “expects a referendum on unifying the island in the next 10 years.”
“Yes. I think we are in a decade of opportunity,” she said. “There are many situations that change the old norm and the nature of the state, and the fact that a nationalist Republican was never supposed to become prime minister,” she added.
O’Neill considered that “all of this indicates change.”
The British government, for its part, published a document this week declaring that it “does not see any realistic possibility” of holding such a referendum. She considered that the future of Northern Ireland is “certain in the coming decades” within the United Kingdom.
#Prime #Minister #Northern #Ireland #expects #referendum #unification #years
2024-02-04 18:23:05
