A Sinn Féin motion calling on the British Government to set a date for a referendum on Irish unity was carried at Monday’s meeting of Monaghan Co Council following an intense debate in which speakers from the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parties cautioned strongly that the time was not right for such a move.
Although the current Government partners did not have the combined numbers present at the meeting to defeat the motion when a vote on it was taken, their representatives objected forcefully to the proposal’s timing. Fine Gael’s Seán Gilliland feared that the passing of the motion would antagonise Unionist opinion in the North and pose jeopardy to the principles underpinning the Good Friday Agreement, while Fianna Fáil’s P J O’Hanlon said the motion was effectively “putting the card before the horse”, with extensive work needed to prepare the ground for a future Border poll.
But Sinn Féin argued that starting a preparatory conversion was also a key intent of the motion, with Councillor Pat Treanor emphasising that people “needed to start listening to what the fears of the Unionist…
