{"id":608011,"date":"2026-08-29T05:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T05:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/608011\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T05:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T05:54:14","slug":"fianna-fail-minister-categorically-disagrees-with-british-prime-minister-on-unity-poll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/608011\/","title":{"rendered":"Fianna F\u00e1il minister ‘categorically’ disagrees with British prime minister on unity poll"},"content":{"rendered":"

A FIANNA F\u00c1IL minister said she \u201ccategorically and fundamentally\u201d disagrees with comments from British prime minister Andy Burnham, after he stated that a united Ireland referendum\u00a0is \u201coff the table\u201d.<\/a><\/p>\n

Niamh Smyth, Minister of State for Trade Promotion, said a poll on a \u201creunited Ireland\u201d is not off the table, and that the government will continue to work towards one.<\/p>\n

During his visit to Belfast on Thursday, Burnham said he is \u201chere to listen\u201d but added that the \u201crifts\u201d arising from referendums \u201ctake a long time to heal\u201d, referring to Brexit and the Scottish independence referendum.<\/p>\n

Under the terms of the 1998 Belfast\/Good Friday Agreement, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland can decide to hold a border poll, and it also places a duty on the office holder to call one if it appears likely a majority would vote for Irish unification.<\/p>\n

The people of Ireland must also vote in favour to effect constitutional change.<\/p>\n

Smyth, a Fianna F\u00e1il TD for Cavan and Monaghan, said: \u201cAs a border TD I would have to categorically and fundamentally disagree with the Prime Minister on that notion that a border poll is \u2018off the table\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Taoiseach\u2019s approach to this has been very sincere. With the establishment of the Shared Island (Initiative) which, in my view, is doing it the correct way, there is investment to be made in the north consistently on very important capital projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoing it through education, through infrastructure like the Narrow Water Bridge, and bringing people together in a very organic collaborative way, that people learn to be in the same room, to work together and find consensus on projects that benefits citizens in the north and working with us in the Republic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people in the North can measure the Irish Government\u2019s intention to a reunited Ireland and I certainly think it\u2019s not off the table, that it is something that Government will continue to work towards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Minister for Enterprise Peter Burke said: \u201cIt is very clear under the Good Friday Agreement that the Northern Ireland Secretary, when they have assessed that the mood is correct, essentially to bring forward a border poll, that\u2019s an assessment that has to be made at a point in time.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy own personal view is that 50 plus one will not deliver a united Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile,\u00a0Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant said that Burnham did not make a mistake in making the comments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bryant said Burnham was speaking about the situation \u201cnow\u201d and insisted they are both \u201cfull square behind every single part of the Good Friday Agreement\u201d.<\/p>\n

The remarks drew an angry response from nationalist politicians, with Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald stating that no prime minister has the right to \u201chigh-handedly\u201d remove the provision for a unity referendum from the Good Friday Agreement.<\/p>\n

DUP leader Gavin Robinson welcomed the comments, stating the prime minister had \u201cput to bed the nonsense\u201d speculation over a unity poll.<\/p>\n

Asked if Burnham\u2019s comment was a mistake, Bryant told UTV: \u201cNo, it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cI sat next to Andy throughout all the conversations yesterday, and he made absolutely clear, time and time again, and I\u2019m happy to do it again now, that we stand full square behind every single part of the Good Friday Agreement, including the provisions in relation to a border poll.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A FIANNA F\u00c1IL minister said she \u201ccategorically and fundamentally\u201d disagrees with comments from British prime minister Andy Burnham,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85530,4501,76655,12108,42,43,2443,3404,40,38,41,39,257546],"class_list":["post-608011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-andy-burnham","tag-belfast","tag-border-poll","tag-good-friday-agreement","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-northern-ireland","tag-republic-of-ireland","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-unity-poll"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}