Sinn Fein MP Daire Hughes said an ‘energetic debate’ was under way about a new Ireland.

Secretary of State Hilary Benn has been accused of “burying his head in the sand” over an Irish border poll.

Sinn Fein MP Daire Hughes was responding after Mr Benn said a poll for a united Ireland is a “long way off”.

Speaking on the Stormont Sources podcast this week, Mr Benn said he has just one document in his possession which relates to a border poll, and that is the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.

The landmark peace deal agreed in 1998 says that it is for the secretary of state to call a border poll if at any time it appears likely that a majority of those voting would vote for constitutional change.

“Those who drafted the Good Friday Agreement weighed every single word with enormous care,” he

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