Address to Seanad Éireann by Members of the European Parliament Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-18 ============================================================ Cathal Byrne (FG), Cultural and Educational Panel In 2017, then Taoiseach Enda Kenny, together with others, secured a commitment from the EU that if Ireland were to be reunified, the North of Ireland would be automatically subsumed into the EU. The estimated cost at the moment is in the region of approximately €20 billion per annum. As a republican and someone who wants to see a referendum on the unification of Ireland, but also a referendum that passes, there is an important role for the EU in this. My question is for all the MEPs. In the next round of budgets, will they keep on the agenda the issue of monetary support for the costs of the ultimate reunification of this country? --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-18/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-02-18