Veteran Cork TD and former food minister Ned O\u2019Keeffe (82) made the claim as he delivered the oration at Fianna F\u00e1il\u2019s Easter Rising commemoration at Kilcrumper in north Cork.<\/p>\n
Kilcrumper has been hailed as the \u201cGlasnevin of the South\u201d and is the resting place of such War of Independence heroes as Mick Fitzgerald, Liam Lynch, Michael Rouse, Daniel Shinnick and Denis O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Keeffe said that 109 years on from the Easter Rising, achieving a united Ireland remained a distant dream.<\/p>\n
This is despite increased debate about holding a border poll.<\/p>\n
A Belfast Telegraph poll earlier this year found 48pc of respondents in Northern Ireland were not in favour of a united Ireland, while 41pc indicated they would vote for it.<\/p>\n
Only once in the last decade has a poll shown a majority in favour of Irish unity.<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Keeffe said Irish unity remains elusive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have had many initiatives in modern times,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Good Friday Agreement brought about a major breakthrough in a shared island, but we are still far away from the goal of a united Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stand here today at this very historic plot where many patriots are buried.<\/p>\n
\u201dFianna F\u00e1il was founded in 1926, 10 years after the Easter Rising, and it stands for three things \u2013 a united Ireland by peaceful means, restoration of the Irish language, and to give [as much as possible] to as many people living in the farms of rural Ireland as would be economical.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Keeffe said the sacrifice of the Easter Rising patriots must never be forgotten.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis Easter Sunday, 109 years on from when P\u00e1draig Pearse and his comrades fought and commandeered the GPO in Dublin, and within a few days of flying the Tricolour over the GPO, they had to surrender,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese great men gave up their lives so that Ireland could be free from the centre to the sea.<\/p>\n
\u201cNever was it more relevant today that we should be a united Ireland.\u201d<\/p>\n
The veteran former TD said the issue has been complicated over recent times.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrexit has been the first problem for Irish people north and south in modern times,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Trump tariffs are causing further disruption and inconvenience to trading north and south of the Border.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne side of the Border is sterling and other side is euro.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is creating inefficiency and difficulties for the Irish people on their own land.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Keeffe said Ireland had to recognise the importance of the US to Irish issues over the centuries.<\/p>\n
\u201c[In the past] that country was always our closest friend and came to the aid of the Irish people for centuries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe States were seen by Ireland as the land of the free and of opportunity, and thus large numbers of Irish people emigrated there to make their fortunes and success in life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe tariffs may be unjust but we have to recognise President Trump is only concerned about the USA.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Keeffe also noted that 2025 marks another important anniversary.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year marks the centenary of the Boundary Commission, which operated from 1924 to 1925,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only were the UK and the island of Ireland partitioned but so was the historic nine-county province of Ulster, for counties Cavan, Donegal and Monaghan were \u2018excluded\u2019 from Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cA new line on the map divided this small island.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt that time, the constitutional prospects of these jurisdictions were uncertain and the [desire] for reunification hung in the air.<\/p>\n
\u201cA century later, such questions and possibilities have returned to the forefront of Irish political debate.<\/p>\n
\u201cAddressing D\u00e1il \u00c9ireann in 1935, \u00c9amon de Valera, our great Fianna F\u00e1il leader and founder, professed, and I quote: \u2018Partition is a disaster and shame.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cDue to its vexed history, the memory of partition became shrouded in shame, bitterness and unease in Irish society, along with scholarship.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Keeffe added that historian Guy Beiner had discerned a conspicuous lack of historiography on the \u201cuncomfortable\u201d topic of partition following its implementation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Veteran Cork TD and former food minister Ned O\u2019Keeffe (82) made the claim as he delivered the oration…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[21384,802,748,21382,20500,2000,299,5187,1699,21383,4884,21381,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-37177","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-21384","9":"tag-brexit","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-eamon-de-valera","12":"tag-easter-rising","13":"tag-eu","14":"tag-europe","15":"tag-european","16":"tag-european-union","17":"tag-fianna-fail","18":"tag-great-britain","19":"tag-ralph-riegel","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114373585997896953","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37177","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=37177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}