Enda Kenny, Irish prime minister, sees hope of reunited Ireland thanks to Brexit

Enda Kenny, the prime minister of the Republic of Ireland, believes the United Kingdom’s forthcoming withdrawal from the European Union may lead to the island’s reunification, Irish broadcaster RTE reported Monday.

“Speaking at the MacGill Sunner School in Glenties, Co Donegal, Mr. Kenny said that the clause in the Good Friday Agreement for a border poll might be triggered if there is clear evidence of a majority of people in Northern Ireland wishing to leave the UK and join the republic,” RTE said. 

“Mr. Kenny compared the situation to East Germany when the Berlin wall came down and it was absorbed into the west without having to go through a torturous process applying for membership of the European Union,” RTE noted.

But as the BBC reported Monday, the new British Cabinet member responsible for Northern Ireland ruled out a border poll. What’s more, new British Prime Minister Theresa May made clear in her remarks to the press last Thursday that she is a staunch unionist committed to Northern Ireland remaining in the U.K.

“[N]ot everybody knows this, but the full title of my party is the Conservative and Unionist Party,” Mrs. May said after returning from Buckingham Palace to accept the queen’s formal invitation to serve as prime minister. “And that word Unionist is very important to me. It means we believe in the Union. That precious, precious bond between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.”