Former Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Dick Spring has said he believes the island of Ireland is not ready for a border poll.
The former Labour Party leader and Kerry North TD was Tánaiste during the 1980s and 90s and was involved in peace process talks that culminated in the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
He was speaking on the 40th anniversary of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which gave the Irish government an advisory role in Northern Ireland’s day-to-day affairs.
Labour’s current leader, Ivana Bacik, recently called on the Irish and British governments to set a clear timeline for the holding of a referendum on a united Ireland.
Dick Spring says he would prefer focus on improving the economies north and south for the moment, and that it will take years to amalgamate very different public services.
