Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that a hard Brexit would inevitably see communities in the North considering a United Ireland.
Varadkar was speaking during a public interview at the MacGill summer school in Glenties, Donegal.
His remarks came as the sharp rhetoric between Dublin and London continues with Britain now looking on course to crash out of the EU without a deal.
According to the Irish Times, Mr Varadkar said it would be “provocative” to discuss a potential united Ireland before Brexit, but said that could change if the UK crashes out of the European Union without a deal.
“That obviously could change in the event of a hard Brexit,” he said.
“Those questions will arise whether we like it or not, and we have to be ready for it,” Mr Varadkar said about the future status of Northern Ireland in a potential no-deal scenario.
The Taoiseach was speaking during a public interview with Irish Times Political Editor Pat Leahy at the event in Glenties, Co Donegal.
“It raises very serious questions about the future of Northern Ireland,” the Taoiseach said. “ I do think that more and more people, certainly in the event of no deal, more and more people in Northern Ireland will come to question the union.”
Responding to Boris Johnson comments on Thursday over ‘abolishing the backstop’, the Taoiseach insisted that will not happen.
“We are not re-opening the [Withdrawal Agreement] but we have shown reasonableness and flexibility in the past,” Varadkar said.
