Debris burns as riot police clash with protesters in Belfast, Northern Ireland., Photo: Jason Cairnduff 
The recent street violence in Northern Ireland has dashed illusions that there are no circumstances in which “lethal, politically-motivated violence” could recur, former adviser to Taoisigh Martin Mansergh has said.
A key architect in the Northern Ireland peace process, Mr Mansergh wrote in The Irish Catholic this week that the causes of tension need to be reduced and that the “rhetoric and fear-mongering” must be toned down.
This comes after loyalist protests resumed in Belfast following a brief lull.
Addressing the increasing recent speculation concerning a united Ireland, Mr Mansergh said that the condition set out in the Good Friday Agreement for holding a border poll, which is a judgment by the secretary of state that the people of the North would vote for constitutional change to join a united Ireland, “is nowhere near satisfied”.
He said that pressing for a “premature” border poll “would not fail to ratchet up potentially explosive tensions”.
Rather than focusing on “the mirage of imminent constitutional change”, the focus should currently be on health and the economy, according to Mr Mansergh.
“For everyone’s sake across the island, we should concentrate on trying cooperatively to develop the best of what we have, not pull it apart,” he wrote.
“Rebuilding after Covid-19 and Brexit will be no easy task.”
Read more here: The condition set for a poll on a united Ireland is nowhere near satisfied
