SINN FÉIN'S Michelle O’Neill has again expressed her desire for a referendum on a united Ireland.
Last month, the party's deputy leader called for a united Ireland referendum to be held within five years.
And in the wake of Saturday's Yes vote in the Abortion Referendum, she believes there is an appetite for constitutional change on the island of Ireland.
“The fact that it was such a significant majority that voted in favour of Repeal shows that there is a real appetite for change on the island of Ireland,” she told Peston on Sunday.
There is at risk of a hard border between north and south if a Brexit deal between Britain and the EU cannot be thrashed out.
However with 55.6 per cent of people in Northern Ireland voting Remain in the 2016 referendum, Ms O’Neill believes even unionists may consider voting for a united Ireland.
The bookies have the odds of an Irish reunification referendum at 4/1. But @sinnfeinireland's @moneillsf says they may well be better than that, with the issue firmly back on the agenda after Brexit. #Peston pic.twitter.com/TfbpZUJnaQ
— Peston on Sunday (@pestononsunday) May 27, 2018
“The fact that there is a conversation now at this moment in time that people are having because of the context of Brexit, because they feel that we’re being dragged out of the EU against our wishes, and you can see from the referendum itself that stance of opinion has actually grown,” she told host Robert Peston.
“So we’ll be making the case for special designated status, that’s something which we believe needs to happen.
“I totally respect the vote of people here in Britain but I believe that my mandate is to protect Ireland, my mandate is to protect the best interests of the people in the North of Ireland.
“I think in terms of the conversation at home now, it’s very much about a unity referendum, it’s very much about the constitutional future.
“The big decision yesterday in Dublin was a constitutional issue. That is now to the fore.
“People – particularly people from a unionist background, who traditionally in the past wouldn’t have had this conversation about where they see themselves in the future – are now having that conversation and it’s a very healthy and live debate.”
The Good Friday Agreement says a united Ireland can only be achieved if a majority of people from Northern Ireland vote in favour of unity.
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