Too soon for border poll on Irish unity Archbishop of Armagh says

The Archbishop of Armagh has said now is not the time for a border poll on Irish unity due to the current state of political flux on the island of Ireland and Europe.

His comments came before a new poll published on Tuesday revealed that support for the union dropped below 50% for the first time.

The figures published by The Irish News, contained in the Northern Ireland General Election Survey 2024, showed support for Irish unity at 33.7%, an increase of more than five percentage points over the past five years. Some 14% of people said they do not know and 3.7% refused to say regarding the constitutional question.

Speaking to The Irish Catholic Archbishop Eamon Martin said: “I think the Good Friday Agreement asks for that conversation to happen with regard to how and when a border poll will be held.

“I think that at the moment, if you look at the relationships, we’ve just literally got a fledgling assembly back up and running, we have a new government in Britain, we have elections coming up in the Republic of Ireland, we have a new commission being established in Europe – I think this is not the time for a border poll. However, I think the conversations towards having some decision-making about this issue can begin and have already begun,” said.

Archbishop Martin said the Churches in the North could be part of the conversations around a united Ireland and border poll, as “one of my big regrets is that at the moment it’s extremely difficult for a Northern unionist or loyalist to become in any way associated with the conversation about a shared island. So you would question whether or not this is the time to be springing a border poll”.

He added: “We saw in Brexit, if you hold the poll before you’ve had a discussion about the implications, you’re into chaos. We’re in the situation that we’re eight years following the Brexit vote and people are only now beginning to realise the implications of having voted for Brexit.

“I would hate the same thing that happen over a border poll. Therefore, I think the front loading before a border poll is much more important to do than to try to pick up the pieces after you’ve held one.”