Sinn Féin’s call for a border poll is not “helpful at this time”, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said. 

Ahead of St Patrick’s Day, the party has paid for advertisements in American newspapers, such as the Washington Post and New York Times, calling for a referendum on Irish unity. 

It urges the US Government to hold the British Government “fully accountable to its Good Friday Agreement commitments” and for the Irish Government to hold a Citizens’ Assembly on the issue. 

An Taoiseach said he had not seen the advertisements but opposed a border poll in the near future. 

“I just don’t think that’s helpful at this time,” he said. 

“I’m someone who believes in unification but I don’t think that’s helpful at this time. 

“It’s a sensitive moment; we’re trying to get everyone onboard with the Windsor Framework.” 

Sinn Féin’s call for a border poll is not “helpful at this time”, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said. pic.twitter.com/yuw51dzLzy

— NewstalkFM (@NewstalkFM) March 15, 2023

The Good Friday Agreement states a border poll should be held “if at any time it appears likely to him that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the UK and form part of a united Ireland”.

GF8X76 A jogger passing Border Poll Now graffiti in Belfast, along the River Lagan.

Mr Varadkar said he did not think the conditions for a border poll had been met and support for unity was “not clear at all at the moment”. 

“What’s most important in the here and now is getting everyone onboard for the Windsor Framework and getting the Executive up and running,” he said. 

“Because what the people of Northern Ireland want more than anything, is to have the politicians they elected dealing with the everyday problems that they face.” 

Power sharing collapsed last year because the DUP were unhappy with the Northern Ireland Protocol; the party is currently analysing the Windsor Framework and will nominate a Deputy First Minister if satisfied. 

Main image: Leo Varadkar. Picture by: Alamy.com