Statement by TUV vice-chairman and South Antrim Westminster candidate Richard Cairns:
“The recommendation from a working group that people in Northern Ireland should be able to vote in elections to the upper house of the Irish parliament reminds us that Dublin has not abandoned its aim of a 32 county Republic.
“Many Unionists foolishly claim that the Belfast Agreement and its latter incarnation as the St Andrews Agreement cement Northern Ireland’s place in the UK. The reality, as today’s announcement shows, is that Dublin remains committed to uniting the island of Ireland.
“If the Republic respected the position of Northern Ireland as part of the UK there would not be a proposal to allow people from here to vote in elections to their upper house.
“More and more Unionists are waking up to the reality that Nationalists and Republicans do not regard the current arrangements in Northern Ireland as a settlement but rather part of a process – a process which has as its ultimate goal a united Ireland.”