Brexit means Irish unity poll needed within five years: Sinn Fein

The upheaval of Brexit means a referendum on Irish unity must be held within the next five years, the leader of republican party Sinn Fein said Saturday.

The province of Northern Ireland, and its border with the Republic of Ireland, has been a major complication in Britain's attempt to leave the EU.

"The days of partition are numbered, change is in the air, Brexit has changed everything," president Mary Lou McDonald told the party's conference in Londonderry.

"Many people, for the first time, are now considering their future in a United Ireland."
Under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the British secretary of state for Northern Ireland should organise the vote "if at any time it appears likely to him that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom."