NORTHERN Ireland could rejoin the EU as part of a united Ireland in the same way as East Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall, according to an Irish politician.
Fine Gael TD Dara Murphy called for a united Ireland if the public voted for it in a referendum following Britain's upcoming withdrawal from the European Union.
Mr Murphy said he wanted "explicit clarity" from the British Government that such a move could happen post-Brexit.
But the Cork politician, who is also vice-president of the European People's Party, denied wanting to activate the process prior to Britain concluding its so-called 'divorce deal' with the bloc.
"We just want explicit clarity that if in the future the people vote for a united Ireland then the new part of what will then of course be Ireland would automatically become, once again, a part of the European Union," he told EPP TV.
Mr Murphy said he does not believe now is the "right time" for the Irish Government to activate the process of Irish unity.
“We have a peace process that has survived with the support and work of both governments, both communities, but also the support of the European Union.
“The reference to a united Ireland is enshrined within the Good Friday Agreement, an internationally binding peace treaty that provides that sometime in the future, that a united Ireland might be possible if the people vote for that in a democratic and orderly fashion.
“So we have no sense or desire within these talks to trigger or initiate any part of that process.
"In fact the Irish Government believes this is not the time for a poll on a united Ireland."
Mr Murphy compared the potential of the North joining Ireland, and in doing so rejoining the EU, to conditions in post-war Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
"It’s the same, more or less, as what happened when East Germany joined West Germany to be Germany then of course that part also came into the European Union," he said.
