O’Neill tells Harris he cannot put his head in the sand on Irish unity

Michelle O’Neill has warned Simon Harris that he cannot hide his head in the sand on Irish unification.

The Sinn Fein vice president and Stormont First Minister was responding to the new Taoiseach’s assertion that pressing for unity was not currently a priority for him.

Ms O’Neill said the debate on constitutional change was a “very live one” and the Irish government needed to commence preparatory work in advance of any future border poll.

Asked for her response to Mr Harris’s recent remarks on unity, she told reporters in Belfast: “I think that there’s