(Bloomberg) -- Ireland’s Prime Minister Simon Harris said he doesn’t intend to make preparations for a united Ireland or to hold a referendum on the issue.
While a united Ireland is the aspiration of his Fine Gael party, he will instead prioritize cooperation between north and south, Harris, who governs as part of a coalition, said in interview with The Irish Times on Saturday.
“I think the most important thing we have to do right now is not just make preparations for anything, but actually get on with utilizing the Good Friday Agreement to bring about its full potential,” Harris said, referring to the 1998 deal that ended decades of violence over Northern Ireland’s status.
There has been increased focus on the issue of a border poll with gains for Sinn Fein in Northern Ireland, the nationalist party that campaigns for a united Ireland. The party now holds the post of First Minister in the region for the first time and its gains have coincided with fewer Northern Irish people identifying only as British.
Harris praised the improvement of relations with the UK under the Labour government.
In the wide-ranging interview, Harris criticized the European Union over the conflict in Gaza, saying the bloc has “not done nearly enough in relation to that.” He said Ireland would continue to press for a review of the EU-Israel trade agreement.
With an election on the horizon, Harris indicated that there will be a boost in infrastructure spending and one-off payments to households in the next budget on Oct. 1.
Ireland boasts one of Europe’s few budget surpluses, due in part to taxes paid by the outsized number of multinational corporations based there. Despite warnings from the country’s central bank to stick to its own spending rules, Harris confirmed “one-off” payments will continue in the upcoming budget for a third year, including tax reductions and a package of cost-of-living payments.
The budget could also contain a package of top-up funding for infrastructure projects, funded by approximately €2 billion ($2.2 billion) in proceeds from its shareholding in AIB, Harris said.
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