THE Anti-Austerity Alliance/People Before Profit TDs in Leinster House have rowed in behind the DUP, Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Tories to oppose calls for a referendum on a united Ireland.

The calls for an Irish unity vote came following last week’s Brexit referendum which Westminster Tories and the DUP insist will see the North of Ireland dragged out of Europe against its will by the votes of England.

The AAA/PBP, which supported the “Leave” campaign, hit out at calls for a united Ireland vote, claiming it would only “deepen divisions” in society.

In his speech, AAA/PBP TD Mick Barry claimed a referendum on a united Ireland would be a “sectarian headcount” and then bizarrely lumped all “Protestants” in together as one homogenous political group, saying:

“Does anyone believe that 800,000 Protestants could or should be coerced into a united Ireland against their will? That is a recipe for civil war, not for Irish unity.”

The opposition from AAA/PBP to a united Ireland is nothing new. The AAA, for example, hold an openly neo-unionist position which expresses their aim to see Ireland become part of a “socialist federation of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales”.

Other self-proclaimed left-of-centre parties such as the Greens and Social Democrats took such little interest in proceedings that not one of their TDs bothered to show up in the chamber to take up their 5:30pm assigned speaking slot.

Hitting back at the deluge of anti-republican drivel, Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty TD reminded the Dáil that the right to a referendum on a united Ireland is enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement:

“It is a pity that parties such as Fianna Fáil, which has the strap-line of being ‘The Republican Party’, and the Labour Party, which is so proud of its origins going back to James Connolly, have turned their faces against the idea of having a Border poll here but have no problem with supporting the idea of a Border poll in Scotland.”

Many of the arguments trotted out by AAA/PBP TDs and ‘revolutionaries’ such as Ruth Coppinger (pictured) hinge on the age-old Establishment argument that a referendum on ending the undemocratic partition of Ireland would be “divisive”.

However, this is the same party that only last week (quite rightly) called for a referendum to Repeal the 8th Amendment – no worries there about being “divisive”!

The AAA/PBP’s attempt to use such a fig-leaf when it comes to the North should be ridiculed for the pathetic dodge that it is.

While the AAA/PBP believes unionists should not be part of a united Ireland against their will, it has no problem whatsoever in upholding the status quo which sees hundreds of thousands of nationalists and republicans living in a so-called “United Kingdom” against their will.

It also, according to its Dáil contributions, has no problem with disregarding the views of the people of the North as a whole, and instead rejoices in the North being dragged out of the European Union against the will of the people.

The AAA/PBP says it wants to offer a “radical vision for our country” and yet it is opposed to even allowing the people of the country have their say on Irish unity.

What's radical about that?