Martin says Northern Ireland should still have MEPs after Brexit

The Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has proposed that even after the UK quits the European Union that Northern Ireland should continue to have representation in the European Parliament.

Mr Martin referred to how tens of thousands of people from Northern Ireland hold Irish passports and therefore were "Irish citizens" and "European citizens".

"There needs to be a bespoke deal for Northern Ireland in the wider context of Brexit, " said the Fianna Fáil leader when proposing that even after the UK quits the EU that Northern Ireland still should have three MEPs in the European Parliament.

It was conceivable, he added, that this could happen through Northern Ireland having special permission to continue holding elections to the European Parliament.

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"Why would people object to Northern Ireland continuing to have representation in the European Parliament?" he asked during a two day visit to Belfast.

“I think there is an open door there for imaginative ideas that would enable European citizens in Northern Ireland to express that citizenship in practical ways. And representation in the European Parliament would be a very good way to do that,” he added.

Mr Martin was speaking at Queen’s University on Friday when among a number of issues he discussed Brexit with senior members of the college.

He said that the absence of the Northern Executive and Assembly and “the absence of a political voice for Northern Ireland” was damaging and making it difficult to get such innovative ideas discussed.

Grave situation

He said that the damage that Brexit can cause on the island of Ireland, particularly Northern Ireland, demands the restoration of the Executive and the institutions.

“I believe it is inexcusable and unacceptable that we have been without an Executive and without an Assembly for nearly 12 months now,” he said.

“Given the grave situation Brexit involves and the implications of Brexit I can’t understand it.

“I think the differences are not that great between the two main parties. I would urge the parties now to do the sensible thing for the people of Northern Ireland and facilitate the restoration of the Executive and Assembly.”

Mr Martin also referred to how Fianna Fáil has been considering standing candidates in Northern Ireland and how this could involve a merger or some form of cooperation with the SDLP.

Asked would the party consider running a candidate in the West Tyrone by-election caused by the resignation of Sinn Fein MP Barry McElduff he said that was "not a realistic proposition".

He did not however rule out the possibility of standing candidates in the local council elections next year.

“We have set a target for 2019,” he said. “We are considering that as we speak. We have had a longstanding relationship with the SDLP.

“So for now we are exhorting people to get the institutions back up and running and we will certainly contemplate that question later.”

Abortion

On his support for repealing the Eighth Amendment and to allow unrestricted abortion up to 12 weeks Mr Martin the motivation was to deal with “very traumatic issues that women face in the Republic”.

“The reality is that the cruel inflexibility of Article 43.3 has caused harm to women and has affected the quality of care that women receive in our hospitals, and criminalises doctors and women in the Republic,” he added.

“What I am picking up is that people want change. They don’t like the absolutism of the current situation, particularly as it applies to people with fatal foetal abnormality and victims of incest and rape who become pregnant and where the serious health of the mother is involved as well - they want to trust doctors more and they want to trust women more - that is my sense of what’s happening in the public mood.

“Obviously there will be differences of opinion. There are very sincerely held views on both sides that I respect fully.”