Leo Varadkar says vote on Irish unity could involve a ‘two-stage referendum’

A vote on Irish unity could be held as a “two-stage referendum”, former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.
In a speech to school pupils in Derry on Thursday, Mr Varadkar suggested that first people could vote on the idea “in principle, then we would have a convention that worked out the details and a new constitution and people get to do a confirmatory vote”.
He expanded on this proposal in an answer to The Irish Times afterwards, saying this mechanism could help convince people from a Protestant or unionist background.
“There are people who are very strong and devout unionists who will never want to have this conversation, just as I wouldn’t want to engage in a conversation about the Republic of Ireland joining the United Kingdom, I wouldn’t be interested in that, so that is a real difficulty for us.
“But I do think there are people who come from a Protestant/unionist/loyalist background, who don’t necessarily look at the unionist parties any more, who might be interested in engaging . . . so I do think there are people, and I’ve met them, who are interested in having this conversation.”
He said this was one of the reasons he felt there was some “merit” in considering a two-stage referendum, “because if we had the first stage, and people North and South voted for unification in principle, I think you might then get a larger number who would accept the democratic outcome and then might be willing to engage in the codesign of what the new Ireland looks like”.
It was one of a number of proposals put forward by the former taoiseach at the event organised by the SDLP’s New Ireland Commission, which built on thoughts outlined in an interview with The Irish Times.
These included that every party running in the next Dáil elections should make manifesto pledges that Irish unification is “an objective, not an aspiration” and back the establishment of a New Ireland Forum to plan for it.
The Sinn Féin leader, Mary Lou McDonald, said Mr Varadkar had “found his inner Shinner and his appetite for reunification”, and this was “where every political party should be”.
In the speech, the former taoiseach discussed other suggestions, saying that “everything doesn’t have to happen in Dublin in a new Ireland” and there was “no reason why the Dáil and the Seanad couldn’t sit for a time of the year in Stormont, for example”.
He also suggested there should be “much stronger local decision-making, town councils, city councils, directly elected mayors.
“Another idea might be to have a president and a vice-president, one coming from each community, and then also using our Senate to make sure that there’s representation from all communities, but also particularly from the minority.”
The former taoiseach also said there should be a larger cabinet, which could potentially include a dedicated minister for defence and minister for transport, “and that would mean maybe guaranteeing that a certain number, at least initially or even permanently, would have to be from Northern Ireland or would have to come from a British citizen background”.
He also said defence arrangements for this new state would have to be considered as, in a united Ireland, the Northern counties would cease to have the protection of Nato and British forces, and this would require “agreements with other countries”.
Mr Varadkar also discussed the level of support for a Border poll, saying that if a referendum was to be held tomorrow, “there’s no certainty that would be passed, and I think that shouldn’t happen, then, until we’re fairly confident that it should pass”.
He said studies south of the Border showed “support for unification is very high, but it’s also very shallow.
“When people in the south are challenged about some of the changes they might have to embrace or accept, support drops.
“When you look at Northern Ireland, it shows that support isn’t strong enough. Even people from Catholic, nationalist or republican backgrounds who vote that way in elections, there’s a good chunk of them that aren’t that convinced about unification, and you’ve got a big group in the middle as well.”
Answering questions from reporters following the speech, Mr Varadkar said that in a referendum, 50-plus-one “wouldn’t be ideal . . . we should aim for as big a Yes vote as possible, both south and north of the Border”.
“Fifty plus one is enough, but it’s not what we want,” he said, stressing the need to “codesign” what a new Ireland might look like with the help of “people north and south, and people from the British unionist community as well”.