Former Ulster Unionist Party deputy leader John McCallister has said it is “important” to have discussions around the potential of a united Ireland.
He was speaking on Thursday during a meeting of Sinn Féin’s Commission on the Future of Ireland during the Balmoral show.
Mr McCallister said: “I’m not going to support or be a voter for Irish unity in that sense, but I think it’s important that we have these discussions. I think it’s important that we look at the policy agenda.
“It would be foolish of me to say not. Brexit was an amazingly unsettling, destabilising event, in my view as a farmer. Not just for agricultural, but in trade flows across the UK and in community relations.
“Everything about it has been deeply unsettling. It was one of those easy to call referendums but hard to actually work through what it means when you get there.”
After leaving the UUP Mr McCallister co-founded pro-union party NI21 party in 2013. The party collapsed in less than a year amid a public fallout during elections.
Mr McCallister continued to act as an independent MLA for South Down until he failed to be re-elected in 2016. He has been working in the agriculture sector since.
The meeting was the Sinn Féin led commission’s 14th session and the discussion centred around the future of rural and farming communities in a united Ireland.
Mr McCallister was joined during the panel discussion by Louise Coyle, director of the Northern Ireland Rural Women’s Network and Limerick based Elaine Houlihan, President of young farmers organisation Macra Na Ferne.
The commission was established by Sinn Féin to “encourage grass roots participation” in conversations about Irish unity.
Former agriculture minister and Sinn Féin MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, Michelle Gildernew, chaired the meeting and asked panelists how Irish unity could benefit farming and rural communities.
Mr McCallister said: “I don’t think unity in itself will provide any sort of panacea or silver bullet. It is about the policy agenda and getting funding, resources into whatever it is and making sure that services are available and that they stretch into rural communities.”
But he added that access to the EU market was “vitally important” to the north’s farming communities.
“Where we’ve ended up is Northern Ireland is largely in the single market for goods and that hasn’t changed,” he said although he noted ongoing issues with trade with the UK.
