![\"Micheal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0024f20b-614.jpg\"\/)
\nMiche\u00e1l Martin made the remarks on a BBC Northern Ireland podcast<\/p>\n
Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has said there should be greater clarity around the arrangements for the calling of a referendum on Irish unity in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
At present, the decision rests with the UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
The 1998 legislation which underpins the Good Friday Agreement says such a referendum shall be called if it “appears likely” to the secretary that a majority would vote in favour.<\/p>\n
Miche\u00e1l Martin said the wording had been “deliberately vague” at the time.<\/p>\n
He said he believed there now needed to be a “discussion” involving the British and Irish governments and Northern Ireland’s political parties to “tease out” in what circumstances the referendum would be run.<\/p>\n
Mr Martin is due to meet British Prime Minister Andy Burnham later this month.<\/p>\n
The Taoiseach made his remarks in an interview for BBC Northern Ireland podcast ‘Borderland – UK or United Ireland’.<\/p>\n
In a 30-minute conversation he answered a series of questions about his views on unity.<\/p>\n
He was asked about Mr Burnham’s remarks during a visit to Belfast recently where he said a referendum was “off the table” and the focus was on improving Northern Ireland’s economic fortunes.<\/p>\n
Mr Martin told the podcast he did not believe Mr Burnham had said anything “different to his predecessors”.<\/p>\n
\nMiche\u00e1l Martin made the remarks on a BBC Northern Ireland podcast<\/p>\n
He said he welcomed the subsequent clarification from the British prime minister that he was committed to all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement, including the referendum clauses.<\/p>\n
The Taoiseach said a better understanding of how and when such a poll would be run was desirable.<\/p>\n
“That’s a discussion that should involve all in terms of teasing that out.<\/p>\n
“It’s clear in the Good Friday Agreement – the possibility of a referendum – and at the moment it’s not satisfactory that it’s loosely put as a judgement call.<\/p>\n
“How do you measure that, and so on, are legitimate issues that have to be teased out.”<\/p>\n
He was critical of those who have demanded a timetable for a referendum.<\/p>\n
That approach ignored the “enormous, substantial complexity” that would attach to the process of unity, he said.<\/p>\n
He said political opponents attacking him for his stance was “silly and childish”.<\/p>\n
“I’ve been through too much on the North to just go the rhetoric game and to play the political campaigning.<\/p>\n
“I’ve no interest in that anymore, too much of it is superficial, too much of it is shallow, that’s where I’m coming from.”<\/p>\n
\n
He said he had followed politics around Northern Ireland since his youth, had experienced the “Brits Out” sloganeering and believed the Troubles had been the greatest barrier to reconciliation and unity.<\/p>\n
He cited the work of his Shared Island initiative which has invested \u20ac1bn and committed \u20ac1bn more.<\/p>\n
He said this was “transformative and consequential”. It was delivering cross border co-operation across a range of areas, including the hourly Belfast to Dublin train service.<\/p>\n
He said the project was not a “trojan horse” or a persuader to unity.<\/p>\n
Mr Martin said an agreement on legacy was crucial to reconciliation on the island.<\/p>\n
He said the British and Irish governments had reached a framework and he had heard nothing to suggest the British government was planning fundamental changes to it as the legislation passes through Westminster.<\/p>\n
He said the legacy provisions and reform of the Stormont institutions to prevent future collapses would be the immediate priorities in talks with the British government.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has said there should be greater clarity around the arrangements for the calling of a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":620404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-620403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620403","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=620403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/620403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/620404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=620403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=620403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=620403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}