The leader of the British National Party, Mr Nick Griffin, said today that it would be in Ireland’s interests to join a future federation of British nations.
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Speaking on the
Marian Finucane
show on RTÉ Radio 1 this morning, Mr Griffin said he believed such a move would put an end to the "Irish question of many years."
He said it would provide a solution to what he called "the way in which all the nations of the British Isles including Éire lost their freedom, and have given up their freedom to the European Union."
Ideally, he said, such a federation would include Ireland but this decision should be left to the Irish people to make.
Mr Griffin said: "I think the Irish people eventually will have to make a choice between something like that or an appalling economic situation because the European Union is not going to last forever. It’s going to collapse mainly under the weight of its pension problems in about the next 25 years."
Despite past problems between Ireland and Britain, Mr Griffin argued that the nations of the British Isles shared common interests in relation to the rest of the world.
He didn’t envisage that any future arrangement would involve the British monarchy or the current Westminster system.
Mr Griffin said he had received contact from Ireland saying the country was going the same way as Birmingham and London and seeking advice from the party about what to do.
The right-wing leader was confronted by one listener who rang into the programme claiming a BNP leaflet pushed through his letterbox in Welling called for the repatriation of ethnic minorities living in Britain, including Irish people.
A spokesperson for Sinn Féin told ireland.comthe BNP held very much a minority view in Britain much like Ms Áine Ní Chonail and her National Immigration Control Platform in Ireland.
He said the BNP’s attitude to Europe was chauvinistic whereas Sinn Féin preferred to deal with Europe through critical engagement.