Sir, – Despite Fianna Fáil calling itself "The Republican Party", the Taoiseach is adamant that he will not broach the topic of a Border poll during his upcoming meeting with Arlene Foster and Michelle O'Neill ("Taoiseach says drive for Border poll 'divisive'", News, July 8th).
The Taoiseach will instead seek “a consensus approach”, which will maintain the constitutional status quo at all costs.
Lots of political issues are “divisive”, but that doesn’t mean that the public should not have a say on them.
Mr Martin knows this better than most: the referendums on marriage equality and repeal of the Eighth Amendment were “divisive” for the electorate and his own party, but they were nonetheless necessary.
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Regarding the national question, “consensus” has become a euphemism for placating political unionism in the wake of Brexit, thereby saving unionists from having to defend their support of a British state which gives Belfast increasingly less weight in its strategic calculations.
The Border poll is the Belfast Agreement’s mechanism for achieving Irish unity if that is the outcome of the vote. Politicians south of the Border must ensure that the British government doesn’t thwart the democratic right of the people in the six counties to decide on their future. – Is mise,
SEÁN Ó DEORÁIN,
Cluain Dolcáin,
Baile Átha Cliath 22.