The head of the executive power of Northern Ireland, Michelle O’Neill, vice-president of the Sinn Fein party, on Sunday mentioned the possibility of a referendum on the unification of the island of Ireland in the next 10 years, writes AFP.

After two years of political deadlock in Belfast, Michelle O’Neill (47) has become the first pro-Ireland politician to be appointed to lead a local government in Northern Ireland.

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“My election as prime minister shows the changes that are happening on this island,” she said in an interview broadcast by Sky News on Sunday.

“We can share power between republicans and unionists who want to keep Northern Ireland part of the United Kingdom, we can work together every day on public services and we can pursue our legitimate aspirations,” O’Neill said.

Asked if she expected a referendum on the island’s unification in the next 10 years, Sinn Féin’s vice-president replied in the affirmative: “Yes. I think we’re in a decade of opportunity.”

For its part, the British government “does not see a realistic prospect” of such a referendum and believes that the future of Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom is “secured for decades to come.”

After her party’s victory in the May 2022 election, Sinn Féin’s Northern Ireland leader has been unable to take up her duties due to a boycott by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of the joint institutions in Belfast created under the Agreement. Good Friday 1998.

The return to government of the DUP opened the door to a crisis that threatened the existence of the Good Friday Agreement, and also put an end to one of the most difficult aspects of the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union. The DUP condemned some of the provisions of the Northern Ireland Protocol but this week struck a deal with the British government, although the unions are far from unanimous on the issue.

Concluded at the same time as the Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, the Protocol on Northern Ireland de facto keeps the province of Northern Ireland within the framework of the European single market.

The document stipulates that in order to prevent the re-introduction of a physical border between the province of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland (a member state of the European Union), which would threaten the Good Friday Agreement, customs control is carried out. in Northern Ireland ports, including for goods coming from Great Britain. (Source: Agerpres)