A former Tánaiste and Kerry North TD says Ireland is not ready for a unification referendum.
Former Labour Party leader, Dick Spring, was speaking at an event in Belfast marking the 40th anniversary of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985.
He was Tánaiste in the Fine Gael-Labour government that signed the agreement with Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives.
Dick Spring was also Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs when the Downing Street Declaration was signed in 1993, which laid the groundwork for the historic Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
The Irish Times is reporting that, speaking at a conference at Queen’s University Belfast, Mr Spring urged political leaders of today, both North and South “to jump one fence at a time”.
He said that he doesn’t think that we’re yet ready for a referendum on unification and that it’s a long way away.
Mr Spring appealed for people not to take for granted that the “guns are silenced” and not to overstretch what the peace process can bear.
A former Tánaiste and Kerry North TD says Ireland is not ready for a unification referendum.
Former Labour Party leader, Dick Spring, was speaking at an event in Belfast marking the 40th anniversary of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985.
He was Tánaiste in the Fine Gael-Labour government that signed the agreement with Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives.