Heather Humphrey’s Speech on Culture, Identity and Inclusion

Heather Humphreys Speech at the 15th Annual D’Arcy McGee Summer School, Carlingford, Co Louth

August 26th, 2026

 Culture, Identity and Inclusion

 Good morning everyone.

It is a real privilege to be invited to speak at the D'Arcy McGee Summer School—a gathering that celebrates not only one remarkable Irishman, but the enduring values of dialogue, democracy and understanding.

Thomas D'Arcy McGee understood something that remains just as relevant today as it was in the nineteenth century: that identity is never a weakness.

It is a source of strength.

It is something to be cherished, not feared.

Born in Carlingford, shaped by Ireland, and ultimately becoming one of the Fathers of Canadian Confederation, McGee demonstrated that a person could be proudly Irish while embracing a broader civic identity.

He rejected narrow nationalism and sectarianism, believing instead that nations are strongest when they respect diversity and foster belonging.

That is a message worth reflecting upon today.

Shaping a Narrative of Belonging

In that spirit, I want to speak about three things today:

how identity can be a source of belonging rather than division;

how inclusion must be built through practical policy as well as generous rhetoric;

and how we must confront the old and new forms of prejudice that still test the promise of a shared island.

I come to this discussion from a personal perspective.

I grew up in Co Monaghan, and if you know Monaghan you don’t have to go very far to discover that identity can be complicated.

Monaghan is a border county.  

We grew up with different traditions, different perspectives, different sporting loyalties and different understandings of our history.

Sometimes those differences could be very strong.

But there was another side to it.

People knew one another, they worked together, they went to the same schools, and they knew each other’s families.

That taught me something that has stayed with me throughout my life: people are much more than the labels placed upon them.

They are human beings, with hopes, fears, loyalties and responsibilities that are often far more complex than any single tradition or identity can capture.

And that is why I have always believed that the conversation about identity must begin with respect.

When I served as Minister for Arts, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht, I was given the immense responsibility of leading the state’s Decade of Centenaries. 

This period commemorated the seismic events that led to the foundation of our state. 

 Many observers warned at the time that commemorating the events between 1912 and 1922—the Home Rule crisis, the 1916 Rising, the War of Independence and the Civil War—could reopen old wounds.

They feared it would alienate our northern neighbours and stoke toxic division.

I want to acknowledge Diarmuid Ferriter who is here today and his work as part of the Expert Advisory Group on Commemorations, whose advice helped ensure that the Decade of Centenaries was approached with care, respect and historical integrity.

We chose to reject exclusionary commemoration. 

Instead, we designed a framework rooted in historical accuracy, mutual respect, and inclusion. 

We were brave enough to look at our past through a wide-angle lens and shine a light on that period of our history.

We honoured the immense sacrifice of those who fought for Irish self-determination. 

Simultaneously, we created space to acknowledge the complex histories of the young men from both unionist and nationalist backgrounds who went to the trenches of the Somme, and the identities of those who wished to remain part of the United Kingdom.

That process proved a crucial point: identity is not a zero-sum game. 

Deepening one community’s understanding of its heritage does not diminish another’s. 

Our culture is strong enough and expansive enough to hold multiple histories at once. This historical maturity is exactly what we must rely on as we face the modern pressures of a changing world.

The True Meaning of Inclusion

Later in my ministerial career, particularly while having responsibility for the Departments of Social Protection and Rural and Community Development, the abstract concept of inclusion became concrete policy.

True inclusion means ensuring that no individual, family or region is left behind. 

It means recognising that a thriving culture depends on vibrant, supported communities, and that belonging must be made real in the places where people live, work, learn and gather.

Inclusion is the community centre in a small rural village that welcomes new Irish families. 

It is the high-speed broadband connection that allows a young person to stay in their home county while working for a global firm. As I often said, you can do the same work in Ballybay as in Ballsbridge or Boston.

It is the accessible public space where people of all abilities, ages, and backgrounds can meet, converse, and share their lives. 

My time in government taught me that inclusion must be actively built through investment, infrastructure, and deliberate political will.

The Path Forward

As we look to the future, we must remember that inclusion requires constant effort.

It requires us to reject the politics of division and fear, and to firmly assert that our diversity is our greatest economic and cultural strength.

As Minister for Rural and Community Development I saw first hand the incredible resilience and evolving identity of our people. 

Ireland has undergone an astonishing transformation.

Within a generation, we have shifted from a relatively homogeneous country defined by outward emigration to a vibrant, multi-ethnic society welcoming immigrant communities from all over the globe.

Our modern identity is dynamic, and it is being rewritten right now.

You only have to look at our local GAA clubs, where children of diverse ethnic backgrounds—many from former British colonies—are playing alongside families who have farmed the local parish for hundreds of years.

Look in our classrooms and at our workforce.

Our national identity is not a fragile relic that will shatter if touched by external influences.

It is a living tradition, strengthened and enriched when more people are welcomed to contribute to it.

Addressing the Modern Turbulence

Yet, we cannot be blind to the severe pressures facing our democracy today.

The rise of disinformation and the spread of exclusionary, toxic rhetoric online are actively designed to make people fearful of change.

When people are anxious about housing, public services, or the pace of globalization, it is tragically easy for bad actors to point fingers at the newcomer, the immigrant, or the outsider.

We must counter this with candour and firm political leadership. 

The battle against racism, xenophobia and anti-immigration violence is a battle for the core values of our Republic.

If we allow minority communities to be marginalised or intimidated, we betray the pluralism that sustained us through our own darkest historical chapters.

Furthermore, as we look at the future of our island and engage with the Shared Island Initiative, we must ask ourselves a challenging question: How can a new Ireland deepen its core values while genuinely accommodating northern unionists?

True integration means we cannot expect northern unionists, or new migrant communities, to simply blend into an existing, unchanged nationalist framework.

We must be willing to let our national identity evolve.

We must build a civic framework that, like the European Union or McGee's Canada, values unity without demanding absolute sameness.

These commitments matter not only in principle, but in the real and sometimes painful tests of public life.

If we are serious about building an Ireland of equal belonging, we must be willing to name the prejudice that still exists and answer it with confidence, honesty and courage.

But any honest reflection on culture, identity and inclusion must also confront the moments when those values are tested. 

A year ago this week, I stepped forward to run for the highest office in this land.

I did so out of a deep love for this Republic and as an Irish Woman committed to uniting this Island.

But that campaign exposed an undercurrent that we can no longer afford to ignore. 

As a Presbyterian woman raised on a rural border farm, I saw a minority try to weaponise my identity.

My family and I were subjected to toxic, targeted sectarian abuse.

We saw malicious online smears, videos generating tens of thousands of views, and false assertions designed to paint my tradition as inherently un-Irish or incompatible with modern civic life. 

My family have been in this country for hundreds of years, longer than the United States of America has existed, and yet I was depicted as a lesser Irish person because of my cultural background and religion.

My Irishness and commitment to this country was undermined by virtue of my background and that was wrong.

Even though we are all Irish citizens and hold Irish passports, I found myself asking a painful question: is there a hierarchy of Irishness?

If someone is not fluent in the Irish language, or comes from a particular faith tradition or cultural background, does that make them any less Irish?

Like many of you, I truly believed our country had moved past that kind of tribal prejudice.

It sent a deeply troubling signal to Protestant, unionist and loyalist communities across this island.

It forced them to look at the Republic and ask themselves: Is there truly a place for us here, or is the "New Ireland" simply riddled with the prejudices of the old?

How We Must Respond: A Strategy for Pluralism

So, how do we respond to this ugly modern strain of sectarianism?

First, we must break the culture of silence and denial.

Sectarianism does not disappear simply because we look the other way or pretend it is confined to the history books or to a different jurisdiction. 

When a candidate’s faith or heritage is used as a tool to discredit them and disqualify them from public affection, every democrat, across every political party, must call it out immediately and without qualification.

Second, we must hold social media platforms accountable.

Much of the vitriol was amplified by a digital ecosystem that profits off polarization, outrage, and unchecked lies.

We must use the full weight of Irish and European digital regulation to ensure that platforms can no longer act as safe harbours for targeted sectarian abuse against public figures and their families.

Third, we must refuse to run away from our complex histories. Instead, we must deepen education and understanding.

It was heartening to see the participation of bands from the Ulster Scots and Unionist tradition in the recent Fleadh Cheol na Éireann in Belfast which was universally lauded as a fantastic success.

Of course, Ulster Scots bands have long performed at both the Annual Picnic in my home village of Drum and the local St Patrick’s Day Parade in Cootehill.

Yet there were sections of the Irish media who sought to portray them as something sinister during last year’s campaign. 

When I found myself trying to explain a cultural event in Drum, which has been part of life in Monaghan for decades, I found that not only was there a lack of understanding of these cultural nuances but in fact when you go beyond the border counties there was little to no understanding at all.

The truth is a lot of people in the Republic aren’t particularly engaged about the North.

They’re worried about the normal day to day realities of life - getting the children ready for school, doing their days work, the price of petrol.

The vast majority aren’t spending their days contemplating when a border poll might happen or what a so-called United Ireland might look like.

There is a lack of awareness and understanding when it comes to the nuances of Unionism, Loyalism, Orange Lodges and marching bands.

My former Department of Social Protection did some analysis on the cost of bringing Northern Ireland’s social welfare payments in line with the rates in the Republic – the cost was estimated at potentially up to €22Billion per year.

This is just one of many other issues that will need to be addressed.

What happens with our two Health systems?

What will happen to An Garda Siochana and the PSNI?

The tricolour is my flag but it’s not the flag of the 1 million people in Northern Ireland who identify as British.

These are some of the big issues that need to be resolved and none of them are easy.

So, if some people can’t get their heads around a small cultural event like a picnic in Drum,00 with a few accordion bands then where do we stand when it comes to much bigger, much thornier questions?

What compromises are we really willing to make?

Holding a referendum is easy but that will not address the real issues.

Some people have asked me do I regret running in the Presidential Election?  I don’t.

But I do regret the hurt it caused to many people who perhaps thought we had moved on further than we have.

I hope it will serve as a wake-up call for the broader constitutional conversation.

If we ever want to achieve a genuinely united island, we must respect all traditions.

If a person from the Ulster Scots tradition running for the Presidency is publicly subjected to blatant sectarian abuse, then we will struggle to convince unionists in Ulster that their identity will be respected and protected in a shared future.

Our response to sectarianism cannot be fear or retreat.

Our response must be a radical renewal of our commitment to education, mutual understanding, and deep institutional respect for the multi-faceted traditions of this island.

I was in public life for over 22 years.

I won every election I ever contested, bar one.

During my political career I got tremendous cross community support but particularly from the people of Cavan and Monaghan.

I think I am the second longest serving female Cabinet Minister in the history of the State.

I was Deputy Leader of my Party. 

I am first and foremost a democrat and President Connolly had a decisive victory.

I don’t believe that the underbelly of naked and nasty sectarianism changed the outcome of last year’s election.

However, I do believe the election highlighted issues that we must address if we are ever to achieve a united island.

The test of inclusion is not whether we can celebrate it when it is easy.

The test is whether we can defend it when identity is used to wound, divide or exclude.

Ladies & gentlemen, I’ll leave you with these words.

Culture need not divide us; at its best, it invites us to listen, to learn, and to discover.

This island has given the world extraordinary voices.

The wit of Oscar Wilde, the poetry of W.B. Yeats, the beautiful depth of C S Lewis, the dark curiosity of a pint of the dark stuff, the quiet genius of Seamus Heaney

- but also, the music of countless traditional musicians, marching bands and musical talent that has travelled far beyond our shores.

Irish, Anglo Irish, Ulster Scots - our history and heritage, our cultural legacy so deeply intertwined but also each so worthy. And now, new voices, new traditions.

Ever evolving.

Ever changing.

A cultural heritage that belongs to no single tradition.

A cultural future that certainly does not.

Those are not my words but the words of Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister Emma Little Pengally at the Belfast Fleadh and they are fitting today.

And so also are the words of Jack Lynch when he addressed Ulster Unionists on RTE on 11th July 1970. 

"There is no real invader here.

We are all Irish in all our different kinds of ways.

 Let us not appeal to past gods as if past generations had said the last word about Ireland.

We have the opportunity to say for our generation what's in our hearts and minds.

I think that there is in us an instinct for good, for enjoyment, for beauty and above all for peace with our neighbours.

We have had invasion piled upon invasion. Danes, Normans, English, Scots followed into Ireland our earlier migration and became part of our soil, of our blood and bones, of the green fields we cultivate.

Yours was our latest migration.

 Do you mistrust yourselves so much as to refuse to see that your home is here- not across any waters? 

 Since the Irish state was founded fifty years my predecessors and I have said again and again that we have no wish to confront you or destroy you.

 Indeed, we think that a branch has been broken from the Irish tree."

 Thomas D’Arcy McGee understood that mature nations are not built by demanding sameness, but by creating a civic home spacious enough for difference. 

That is the Ireland we must continue to build: confident in its culture, honest about its history, generous in its belonging, and brave enough to make room for every tradition on this island. 

Go raibh mile maith agat.

The mountains and beaches which are among my favourite places on this beloved island

By andypollak on Thursday, 27 August, 2026

For more than 60 years I have cycled and walked all over Ireland. This year I was barred by doctor’s orders from my usual week’s cycling, this time in Kerry (again). So I am going to write about 14 of the extraordinary places I have visited in that time on foot and on bicycle. I have tried, as far as I can, to pick places that are remote from the tourist trail.

I will start with what is probably my favourite hill walk on this beloved island. This starts at Oldbridge in County Wicklow at the southern end of Lough Dan, opposite the scout centre. You follow a small road and forest tracks and then up a steep path to Scarr mountain, which gives you a panoramic view of the whole of Wicklow, from the Sugar Loaf in the north to Lugnaquilla and Croaghanmoira in the south. Then it’s north-west across boggy semi-paths to Kanturk, down through the appropriately named ‘Slough’ (not to be attempted after wet weather!) and back to the shores of Lough Dan. The last mile or so is along a marvellously picturesque and well-marked track on the banks of that prettiest of Wicklow lakes. This is an excellent walk for fit and slightly adventurous foreign visitors, a beautiful three-hour outing only an hour’s drive from Dublin.

My favourite Hotel

My favourite hotel in Ireland is Hunter’s Hotel at Newrath Bridge near Rathnew, a few miles north of Wicklow town. This wonderful old ‘coaching inn’, built around 1720 and expertly and generously managed by the Gelletlie brothers, Richard and Tom, must be unique in Ireland: for its antiquity as a functioning hostelry, its delightful gardens (vegetable, lawn and flower) and its warm and hospitable atmosphere. It is my favourite ‘overnighting’ place in Ireland by a distance. This is the first of two places in the country I hope to find in heaven if I ever get there.

Then there are the Blackstairs Mountains in County Wexford. I was visiting a friend who lives in a house at the head of a glen half way up one of those mountains, in a place called Corrageen, earlier this month. It was a perfect summer evening when I walked across a rough field – surely the highest field in Wexford – towards the central 735 metre summit in those hills,. As I lay down in the sun-dried grass on that mountainside and looked across the historic plain of Killane (as in the 1798 ballad ‘Kelly the Boy from Killane’) and Enniscorthy to Vinegar Hill and the Irish Sea, I experienced one of those blissful moments of total peace and contentment that happen only rarely in this busy and sometimes conflicted life.

My next places are four of Ireland’s glorious beaches and bathing places, all of them in Munster. I often thank the gods for Ireland’s inclement weather (not much in evidence during the past summer) which prevents our beaches – surely among the world’s finest – from being overwhelmed by foreign tourists. The first is the Cove across the harbour from Kinsale. This exquisite small beach in its sheltered estuary is always in danger of being overrun by visitors from Cork city and further afield, so on fine days it’s best to visit it first thing in the morning.

Seventy kilometres further westwards along the Cork coast is Lough Hyne, a unique warm seawater lake that sustains an enormous variety of plants and animals, many of which are not found anywhere else in Ireland. Along its western bank on the small road to Barlogue pier, you will see – if you are alert to it – a tiny jetty which is an ideal swimming spot. I have swum here from March to November without suffering overmuch from the cold.

West again is Sherkin Island, reached by a regular ferry from the pretty yachting and fishing village of Baltimore. On a sunny day the short walk from Sherkin pier to Silver Strand, past the (now closed) island school and through a grove of shady trees, is magical. I often imagine that if I went to heaven, just beyond the pearly gates would be this marvellous stroll. A warning: the sea off Silver Strand is usually freezing!

Over the border in Kerry, on the shores of Dingle Bay, is Ventry beach. This magnificent arc of sand, looking across to the Kerry mountains, must be one of the world’s great beaches. And yet when I visited it on a hot day in June it was almost completely deserted.

Talking of the Kerry mountains, my favourite (and certainly the most remote) cafe in the country used to be the Cookie Monster cafe (now unfortunately closed) in the wilderness of the Bridia Valley under Ireland’s highest mountain, Carrantouhill. Six years ago I approached it across a rocky pass from the equally remote Black Valley while escaping Covid by walking the Kerry Way. Most Irish people haven’t a clue about this most magnificent of long-distance walks, although it is well-known in Britain and Europe. What a marvellous experience they are missing – this is the unspoilt Irish wilderness at its most sublime.

The West

However, perhaps my favourite mountain area in the country is north Connemara and south Mayo, around the Twelve Bens and Mweelrea. Here I have walked and climbed with daughters and friends up the ‘Ramp’ under Ben Bury, a steep, forbidding but spectacular trek that begins at Doo Lough (scene of the terrible 1847 ‘famine walk’ when scores of people died in appalling winter conditions after being turned away for famine relief) and ends with a tramp across the broad plateau which leads to the peak of Mweelrea, Connacht’s highest mountain. Not to be attempted in bad weather!

On the other side of Mweelrea is Killary Harbour, Ireland’s longest and most beautiful fjord (which was said 120 years ago to be large and deep enough to house Britain’s entire Royal Navy, when that navy was the world’s largest). Here is a 16 kilometre walk along the southern lough shore (or about half that length if you leave a second car at Bunowen), which is best concluded with a pint in Hamilton’s cosy bar in Leenane. This is a walk I have been doing since was 18 years old, when there was a marvellously remote youth hostel, presided over by the memorable Festy Mortimer (and in a house once inhabited by the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein) at the tiny fishing harbour of Rosroe at the start of the walk.

North of the Border

Finally to the North. Here, although most of my childhood summers were spent in my grandfather’s wooden ‘gypsy’ caravan in Portrush (built by him on an old horse-drawn fire engine chassis), my preferred beach is the one along the coast at the bustling and friendly north Antrim town of Ballycastle. That evangelical grandfather’s influence is evident in my 12th favourite place, the little Reformed Presbyterian Church beside the Kellswater river between Ballymena and Antrim, where they used to prefer to sing unaccompanied psalms rather than hymns to music.

I lived for 14 years as a lodger in a handsome Georgian house in the Mall in Armagh, owned by my esteemed astronomer friend John Butler. They were largely happy, if extremely, busy years as I opened and ran the Centre for Cross Border Studies (now the Centre for Cross Border Cooperation) in the town. The gorgeous green sward of the Mall, with its tree-lined avenues and cricket pitches, was always a balm to the soul in stressful times.

Last of all is Slieve Donard in the Mournes in County Down, the highest mountain in Northern Ireland. This lies above the charming seaside resort of Newcastle, and you begin the walk to its summit in the town’s Donard Park. It’s not a particularly difficult four-five hour walk up and down, but unlike in Kerry and Wicklow you start the ascent from sea level, so by the time you reach the top up a particularly steep incline, you feel every centimetre of its 850 metres!

Please excuse the excess of superlatives in this blog, gentle reader: superlative is what I feel when I think of walking or cycling in the Irish hills and mountains, seascapes and countryside.

Britain’s prime minister repeats assertion that a plebiscite on Irish unity is ‘off the table’

Gerry Moriarty, Irish Times, August 28th, 2026

Andy Burnham in Belfast on Thursday was rather confused about the origin of his Irish antecedents – we’ll come to that – but he was in no doubt about his position on a Border poll on a united Ireland.

He is against it. And there was no prevarication. “I am here to listen and to collaborate but some issues will be off the table, and that is one of them,” he told The Irish Times.

And in case there was any doubt on the matter, in separate interviews with BBC Northern Ireland and UTV he repeated the same phrase – a plebiscite on unity was “off the table”. It was a preheated comment that he brought with him and made sure to articulate strongly.

Burnham’s view was that talk or the suggestion of a referendum would “turn people in on themselves” and cause division. Look at the convulsions caused by the Brexit and Scottish referendums, he offered, and that was not good for society. Better to deal with current issues like the cost of living, budgets and parades.

This seems to be the first occasion in recent times that a British prime minister or northern secretary was so definitive on the subject. Burnham certainly was far more decisive on the matter than Chris Bryant, who, on his first visit to the North as Northern Secretary last month, “deliberately” avoided answering when asked if he believed there would be a united Ireland.

“I believe lots of things. I’m sort of avoiding answering the question. I’m deliberately avoiding answering the question,” said Bryant, confusedly adding that he was “not starting a [Border] poll now, or this week, or this month, or, I would suggest, this year”.

There was no hesitation or confusion from his prime minister. Burnham’s answer may align with Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s preference for concentration on an “agreed Ireland” but it may upset some of his more unity-minded backbenchers. Fine Gael TDs pushing for planning for a Border poll also may be discomforted.

His “off the table” assertion will be very consoling for unionists, as reflected by the DUP leader Gavin Robinson, who was delighted he had “put the nonsense of a Border poll to bed”.

Obviously, it was deeply annoying for Sinn Féin in particular, some in the SDLP too, and the likes of the Ireland’s Future group, which has expended great energy and money in campaigning for a unity plebiscite.

After their meeting, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald asserted that the right to a Border poll was inherent in the Belfast Agreement and that he could not “high-handedly” set that right aside. She said Burnham accepted the “veracity of our position”.

McDonald is correct that Burnham’s comments won’t stop the pressure for a Border poll but he has indicated that it won’t be an issue for him during his tenure as PM. The firmness of his “off the table” remark also may put some brakes on those hoping for a fast-tracked referendum on a united Ireland.

Otherwise the new prime minister kept his cards fairly close to his chest. The big non-constitutional issue at Stormont is the Executive’s failure to agree a budget and the demand from Ministers for more money from the British treasury.

No cash to bail out Stormont’s deficit

Burnham offered some nice words but so far no hard cash to meet the Executive’s large £1.6 billion shortfall. He suggested the Executive could help itself by making some savings and said it was reasonable for the treasury to expect “fiscal discipline” from Stormont Ministers.

He dodged the question over whether he had confidence in the Parades Commission and whether there should be resignations after the High Court quashed a decision to impose restrictions on the annual Orange Order parade at Drumcree in Portadown. One commissioner, Billy Gamble, has resigned but there have been no such announcements from the other five commissioners.

Burnham also repeated the British government’s commitment to seeing the Troubles Bill to deal with the legacy of the Troubles through Westminster. Just as with the Hillsborough disaster, families of the victims and the bereaved of the Troubles deserved truth, he said.

He also resolved one particular question over his background. Previously, he said that as well as connections with Drogheda and Co Louth, he also had family links to Donegal, which triggered interest among genealogists in the county. Sadly for them, Burnham explained that he seemed to have confused Donegal with Drogheda. “I don’t have a family connection [with Donegal], Drogheda is my connection,” he told The Irish Times.

Border poll is 'off the table', insists Burnham on his first visit to NI as Prime Minister

NIALL MCGREEVY, Belfast Telegraph, August 28th, 2026

SINN FÉIN IS LEFT FURIOUS AFTER PM SAYS THAT A REFERENDUM ON UNITY WOULD BE TOO DIVISIVE

Andy Burnham has infuriated Sinn Féin after he stated bluntly that a referendum on a united Ireland is “off the table”.

He was speaking in Belfast on his first visit to Northern Ireland as Prime Minister.

Mr Burnham said referendums had caused too much division and rifts in the past, and there were other priorities.

The PM held a series of meetings with Stormont parties yesterday, as well as the First Minister and deputy First Minister.

Speaking to reporters in Belfast the Prime Minister was asked about a border poll. He said: “I'm here, as I said earlier, to listen, and I will take a collaborative approach but some issues will be off the table, and that is one issue that will be off the table.

“I think we've got to focus on bringing people together as best we can, and I think we've lived through a decade where there's been a referendum on Brexit, we had Scottish independence just before it.

Correcting budget overspends

“What we find is the rifts that come from those situations take a long time to heal, and it sets you right back and you can't focus on what's right in front of us here and now, the cost-of-living pressures that are hurting people in Northern Ireland, the need to get that budget set so that public services can function as they should.

“These are the things right in front of us and sometimes politicians go to things that they want to see, as opposed to getting the solutions that the public need. I think a decade since the Brexit referendum, I think we've had too much division, too much arguing, too much backward looking. We need to fix the things right in front of us in the here and now.”

DUP leader Gavin Robinson welcomed the comments, stating the Prime Minister had “put to bed the nonsense” speculation over a unity poll.

He said: “It's particularly encouraging to hear his comments today, putting to bed the nonsense that has been mentioned over many months now around a border poll.

“I shared with you my view of the Secretary of State's position back in July in Hillsborough Castle, and it's good to hear the Prime Minister put that issue beyond doubt.”

Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Chris Bryant has previously said that an Irish border poll is “not top of my list of priorities”.

The Good Friday Agreement places a border poll in the hands of the NI Secretary.

SF accuses Burnham of being ‘high handed’

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald reacted strongly to the remarks, stating that no prime minister has the right to “high-handedly” remove the provision for a unity referendum from the 1998 Agreement.

Speaking following a meeting with the Prime Minister, Ms McDonald said: “At the core of our discussion with him has been the Good Friday Agreement and the provision for a referendum on Irish unity.

“We have made it very clear to the British Prime Minister that the right to referendum, the right for Irish people to decide our future, is one that is contained within the Good Friday Agreement and is a commitment entered into and a matter of international law, and he simply does not have the right to dismiss or disregard that commitment. He accepts that as a matter of fact.”

Talks with the parties were expected to be dominated by the budget crisis facing Stormont.

Mr Burnham said he is hoping to bring “stability” to the discussion with his visit.

Executive ministers have failed to agree a budget for the current financial year, with departments operating on contingency budgets since April.

Ministers have consistently made the point that they need more funding from the Treasury to address a funding crisis facing public services in Northern Ireland.

The Treasury has previously said it will undertake a “programme of work” to understand the financial pressures that Stormont departments are facing.

The Prime Minister said: “I am five weeks in office and I am here in Northern Ireland because I want to work with the new Northern Ireland Secretary to see if we can move things forward, listen to what people have to say.

“I realise how pressing it is, I realise the concern people have, but we are here because we want to listen.

“We want to have an honest exchange. I think there are things we would say, if we can work together, have a look at where possible savings could be made or where things could be done differently.

“That's right and proper that I ask for those assurances given that we have got to make sure it is fair across the whole of the UK when it comes to a budget.”

Mr Burnham could not give a definitive answer on whether the Treasury will continue to help with Stormont's overspending. He continued: “I can't give a hard yes or no. I've got to meet and discuss it first, and hear where people are at.

“It's not unfair of the Treasury to ask, 'Why is the budget in the position it is in?' Is there something that can be done to do things differently to make some savings? Because that is a legitimate thing the Treasury has responsibility for — to create discipline in all parts of the UK.”

Mr Burnham also said Michelle O'Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly were “something of a model” for politicians elsewhere in the UK.

It came after he was asked about comments ahead of his visit where he talked about “political point-scoring”.

He said: “It wasn't so much a criticism I was making of politicians here. If you look at how the First Minister, the deputy First Minister work, I think it is to their great credit that they work in the way that they do.

“In some ways I would say they are something of a model for politicians elsewhere in the UK, where you often don't see politicians prepared to put differences aside. Here people have the greatest differences but still are able to work like that.”