{"id":17088,"date":"2025-04-13T17:37:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T17:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/17088\/"},"modified":"2025-04-13T17:37:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-13T17:37:11","slug":"fury-as-sinn-fein-seeks-help-of-eu-for-united-ireland-breakthrough-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/17088\/","title":{"rendered":"Fury as Sinn Fein seeks help of EU for united Ireland breakthrough | Politics | News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unionists have hit out at Sinn Fein<\/a> after the party said the European Union<\/a> could help create a united Ireland<\/a> and split up the UK<\/a>. Sinn Fein’s national chairman Declan Kearney said EU<\/a> institutions would be needed to \u201cbecome directly involved\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sinn Fein<\/a> is the largest party in Northern Ireland<\/a> and has called for referendums on Irish unity. But Mr Kearney\u2019s comments have sparked anger from unionists. Democratic Unionist Party peer Lord Dodds told The Telegraph<\/a>: \u201cThe recent general election in the Irish Republic showed there was little appetite for Irish unity, with Sinn Fein failing spectacularly, falling from red-hot favourites for government to also-rans.<\/p>\n

\u201cSinn Fein<\/a> alone is talking it up. This latest stunt will get nowhere with the people who matter here in Northern Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n

The leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice party and MP for North Antrim, Jim Allister, said Sinn Fein<\/a>\u2019s demands were unsurprising and criticised the EU<\/a>\u2019s treatment of Northern Ireland<\/a> post-Brexit<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He claimed to the broadsheed that the Northern Ireland Protocol – now known as the Windsor Framework – was designed to \u201cfurther the plan of separatists to break up the UK<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe now have a situation where, in 300 areas of law, Northern Ireland is ruled by colonial masters in Brussels who subject us to rules we do not make and cannot change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Bobby McDonagh, a former Irish ambassador to the UK<\/a>, Italy<\/a> and the EU<\/a>, told the newspaper that Irish unity was not likely in the short-term.<\/p>\n

Mr Kearney made his comments during an event at the European Parliament last week.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cEurope played a vital diplomatic, political and economic role in delivering the Irish peace process. The transition to Irish unity will also need to be planned and carefully managed.<\/p>\n

\u201cColonial rule, partition and separate states in Ireland have all failed. Unity, through self determination, is the way forward. The EU<\/a> can play a role in supporting the peaceful, democratic pathway to securing that objective.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cA century of partition is enough. It is time for Irish national self-determination. It is time for the United Nations Charter and provisions of the Good Friday Agreement to be respected and applied.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are on the cusp of a new and exciting era. Our appeal to Europe is to become part of the conversation; to share in the ambition. The EU should help us open up the next phase of the peace process, and the achievement of reconciliation, reunification and a new Ireland for all.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unionists have hit out at Sinn Fein after the party said the European Union could help create a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5174],"tags":[6162,2000,299,5187,1699,1144,11508,11528,16],"class_list":{"0":"post-17088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-eu","8":"tag-andy-farrell","9":"tag-eu","10":"tag-europe","11":"tag-european","12":"tag-european-union","13":"tag-northern-ireland","14":"tag-politics-section","15":"tag-sinn-fein","16":"tag-uk"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114331873814474187","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}