{"id":115965,"date":"2025-10-11T18:10:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T18:10:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/115965\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T18:10:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T18:10:08","slug":"united-ireland-could-result-in-unionists-holding-dails-balance-of-power-uup-leader-says-the-irish-times-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/115965\/","title":{"rendered":"United Ireland could result in unionists holding D\u00e1il\u2019s balance of power, UUP leader says \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNo one is ready for a Border poll\u201d and constitutional change would be \u201cdestabilising, confusing and ultimately … disappointing\u201d, the Ulster Unionist<\/a> Party (UUP) leader Mike Nesbitt<\/a> has told his party conference. <\/p>\n

Mr Nesbitt used his speech to outline to delegates why a united Ireland would not be in the interests of people on both sides of the Border and warned it could result in unionists holding the balance of power in the D\u00e1il. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf there was a new Ireland, there could be maybe 60 new, additional TDs representing what was Northern Ireland in the Irish parliament\u201d with \u201caround half of them\u201d unionist and\/or British, the UUP leader said. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo, unionists could hold the balance of power in Leinster House. Why would a proud Irish person want me, or [DUP leader] Gavin Robinson, or Jim Allister [Traditional Unionist Voice leader] choosing their next taoiseach?\u201d <\/p>\n

Addressing several hundred of the party faithful in a south Belfast hotel on Saturday, the MLA for Strangford \u2013 who is also his party\u2019s only Minister \u2013 rejected the argument that a united Ireland would be \u201ctransformational\u201d for the economy, saying \u201cwhat was transformational was the crash of the Celtic Tiger in 2008, which required a massive bailout. <\/p>\n

\u201cIrish finances look good, but one of their biggest sectors is pharmaceuticals, a multibillion-dollar industry that the Republic is heavily involved in, but … in a manner that deeply displeases Donald Trump. The implications are very clear,\u201d Mr Nesbitt said. <\/p>\n

He also argued a United Ireland would not make sense in terms of defence \u201cat a time when geopolitical tensions are so great\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK is committed to upping our percentage spend on defence; the Republic doesn\u2019t spend half of 1 per cent. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith an American administration hostile to Europe and \u2013 crudely \u2013 the accusation European nations are freeloading on the USA\u2019s military, are we really going to divorce ourselves from our greatest protection? <\/p>\n

\u201cNo, we should increase the capacity of the Royal Navy and the air force to use Northern Ireland to defend our shores and our international interests,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Irish Government must prepare for Border poll, SDLP conference toldOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Listing a number of \u201cironies\u201d around the constitutional question, the Ulster Unionist leader said one of these was that \u201cunionists don\u2019t always recognise that one of the people who understands that no one is ready for a Border poll is the Taoiseach, Miche\u00e1l Martin. Hence his focus on Shared Island [initiative] rather than a referendum.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Nesbitt warned that the \u201cbiggest threat\u201d to Northern Ireland remaining part of the UK was not Irish nationalists, but English nationalism. <\/p>\n

He said he had been struck in Westminster \u201cby the number of MPs sporting lapel badges, not with the flag of the United Kingdom, but the flag of St George … waving the flag of England has become a campaign for many English people.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike Brexit, they see it as another campaign to \u2018take back control\u2019,\u201d he said, explaining that the \u201cdanger\u201d was that English nationalist MPs would object to the billions paid by the UK treasury to Northern Ireland\u2019s annual subvention, which they would feel could pay for hospitals or schools in their own constituencies. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the real danger of supporting the sort of right-wing parties other unionists currently find so appealing,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Hitting out at those who \u201caccuse any unionist in engaging in the debate\u201d around a united Ireland \u201cof being a Lundy [traitor]\u201d, he said it should be dealt with by discussing it \u201copenly, transparently and honestly\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe problem with constitutional change like Brexit is that it\u2019s destabilising, confusing and ultimately disappointing,\u201d Mr Nesbitt said. \u201cI think one constitutional leap of faith is enough for any generation to endure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Nesbitt, who is also Stormont\u2019s Minister for Health, defended his record, saying he had \u201cmade difficult decisions … difficult and unpopular decisions\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did so because it was the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ulster Unionist leader called on the Northern Ireland Executive to \u201cpay the workforce what they deserve\u201d and, regarding the failure to implement this year\u2019s pay award for nursing staff, said it would be \u201cbad faith\u201d for the Executive \u201cwho approved pay parity, not to maintain that position\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s stop making nurses and healthcare workers feel they are the only ones, right across the United Kingdom, who have to threaten strike action to get what\u2019s theirs,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cNo one is ready for a Border poll\u201d and constitutional change would be \u201cdestabilising, confusing and ultimately ……\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,4771,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5765,71278,5,954,7,8,39896],"class_list":{"0":"post-115965","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-fianna-fail","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-latest-news","18":"tag-latestnews","19":"tag-main-news","20":"tag-mainnews","21":"tag-micheal-martin","22":"tag-mike-nesbitt","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-northern-ireland","25":"tag-top-stories","26":"tag-topstories","27":"tag-ulster-unionist-party"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}