Leo Varadkar should have called on all parties to make a pledge on Irish unity while he was Taoiseach if he really believes in it, according to the former UUP leader.

Speaking ahead of a speech to the SDLP’s New Ireland Commission in Derry today, Deputy Varadkar said every party running for the next Dáil should make Irish unity “an objective, not an aspiration” in their manifestos.

He said all parties should back the establishment of a New Ireland Forum to plan for unification and called for nationalists to consider new ideas – including having a president and a vice-president, where one of the offices would have to be held by a British citizen.

In his interview with The Irish Times, he also suggested that in a United Ireland, the Dáil could sit at Stormont at times and the Cabinet could be enlarged to include a guaranteed number of British citizens.

Doug Beattie at Stormont, Belfast, after becoming the new leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP). Picture date: Monday May 17, 2021.

On Newstalk Breakfast this morning, former UUP leader and Upper Bann MLA Doug Beattie questioned why Deputy Varadkar didn’t make his call while he was Taoiseach.

“I'm going to be really honest,” he said. “Wanting a united Ireland is a fair aspiration, but it's not my aspiration.

“My aspiration is for a United Kingdom and that's what I will be doing with my party, is to secure that for everybody within Northern Ireland.”

'He could have said this as Taoiseach'

He said Irish politicians ‘pop up every three months’ calling for an accelerated pathway to unity.

“It happens every three months like clockwork,” he said.

“That's fine and I don't mind that people do that but there's no tick box for me as a as an Ulster Unionist.

“I'm an Irishman and I'm a proud Irishman but I'm an Ulster Unionist and I want a United Kingdom and that's what I'm going to work for.

“I've got to say this as well. He could have said this while he was Taoiseach – he didn't but he's doing it now, and that's fine.”

Belief

In his interview, Deputy Varadkar explained that he felt free to speak his mind since stepping down as Taoiseach, adding, “one of the great things about stepping back from electoral politics is I don’t really have to worry about what people in politics or in the media really think about me anymore”.

Mr Beattie said he can understand the former Taoiseach’s point of view but asked: “Does that mean that, when he was the Taoiseach, he didn't believe this? He didn't think this was something to fight for?”

“He's right, it doesn't matter what people think, he can say as he wishes but as people think about what he's saying, they still reflect on the person who's saying it,” he said.

“When he had the opportunity, when he had the platform, he didn't bother but now he is.

“Does that mean he didn't, when he was the Taoiseach, believe that this was the way forward?

United Ireland

Mr Beattie also confirmed that he would not sit in a New Ireland Forum if one was established, adding, “Why would anybody want me to?”

“I've already expressed the fact that I want a United Kingdom,” he said. “Why would I be part of a forum to help design something I don't want to achieve?

“So no, I don't feel that I would be part of a forum and there's no tick box for me.

“You can't say to me, well we'll do this, this, this and this to appease you as a unionist so you can come on board and want a united Ireland.

“It simply doesn't work. So, you can change the flag, you can change the Constitution, you can change the anthem if you so wish but that won't persuade me.”

The UUP politician also rejected the idea that there is more momentum toward a United Ireland since Brexit.

He said he believes that any referendum on unity would be “overwhelmingly defeated” in the North.