“Entirely possible,” Simon Harris states, there will be Irish unity in his lifetime

According to Irish Premier Simon Harris, a united Ireland is totally feasible during his lifetime.

In an interview with Sky News on Sunday, the Taoiseach made the comments while answering questions about immigration, Donald Trump, the US president-elect, and the potential for another economic crisis.

Mr. Harris has previously declared that peace on the island of Ireland is icy and that Irish unity is not a priority for his premiership.

“It’s entirely possible,” he said on Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips when asked if he expected to see a united Ireland in his lifetime. “But I’m not ready to set deadlines on these things because I believe that doing so drives people further apart rather than closer together.”

In September, former Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar urged candidates for office to make unification a goal rather than a wish.

There is still a lot of work to be done, but winning hearts and minds brings people together rather than using arbitrary dates or poll deadlines.

Simon Harris, a Taoist

Mr. Varadkar also suggested holding a two-stage vote on Irish unity, with the first vote determining whether or not people on both sides of the border support constitutional change in principle. After the new political entity’s constitution and organizational framework have been created and made public, there will be a final confirmatory vote.

Following Mr. Varadkar’s resignation in the spring, Mr. Harris assumed the position of Taoiseach and declared on Sunday that he and his party support a united Ireland.

However, I also wish to be truthful with the people of the United Kingdom and Ireland. Fulfilling and maximizing the potential of the Good Friday Agreement, which has suffered far too many pauses and starts, is currently my top priority.

Now that the institutions in Northern Ireland are operational again, we have an interlocutor in Prime Minister Starmer’s Downing Street and, I believe, one in the Government Buildings in Dublin. All three of them want to cooperate to ensure that the prosperity agenda as well as the peace component of the Good Friday Agreement—which is crucial as is—is secured.

He said that he and Sir Keir Starmer had put in a lot of effort to restore Anglo-Irish relations and that ministers would agree on a shared agenda at the yearly Irish-UK summit.

Mr. Harris added that he was determined to maintain the Department of the Taoiseach’s Shared Island Unit.

There is still a lot of work to be done, but winning people over is what unites them—not artificial polling dates or timetables.

Campaigning is intensifying in forty-three constituencies in preparation for Friday, November 29th.

According to a Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks poll, Fianna Fail is unchanged at 20%, Sinn Fein is up two points to 20%, and Fine Gael is down four points to 22%.

The Independents or other parties are up three points to 19%, while Aontu is up two points to 5%, the Social Democrats are down one point to 5%, Labour is unchanged at 4%, the Greens are down one point to 3%, and Solidarity-PBP is unchanged at 2%.

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