The Five Demands

Queen’s students vote on Irish unity (UTV)

A controversial upcoming poll on Irish unity has been generating much debate among students at Queen’s.

Two votes are going to be held at the Belfast university next week.

One will ask students about the question of Irish unity, the second is on whether the students’ union should remain politically neutral.

The Sinn Féin group at Queen’s gathered signatures at Fresher’s Week to force the referendum, while unionist students wanted it stopped.

When that wasn’t an option they supported the second poll on political neutrality. Opinion around the university has been divided.

Oisin Hassan, Sinn Féin, said: “The question isn’t divisive, we don’t believe, we haven’t set out to hurt anyone, we just believe in the democratic process and having a conversation among an intelligent student body.

“The debate itself has been inclusive, respectful and very positive and I think having it and showing that it can be held in that sort of manner is good for the future.”

Cathy Corbett, Keep QUB Neutral, said: “We all need to have a discussion about the future of Northern Ireland, but I feel that as an educational centre, Queen’s is the gem of Northern Ireland’s education system and we should be using it as an example for integrated education and for us to take a stance on such a divisive issue would set us back in the desire for a shared future.”

Some have slammed next Monday’s polls as simply sectarian student politics, but not everyone agrees with that point of view.

Kylie Noble from The Gown student newspaper said: “It’s a very ‘orange and green’ sort of narrative, but I think it’s much wider than that, even Sinn Féin’s arguments for a united Ireland are not based on issues of the past but on issues of how much does the UK spend on war, or cuts to welfare.

“Even with the neutrality campaign, it isn’t just unionists, there’s international students and you can see the signs outside the front of the union in Arabic and Chinese.”

Queen’s is no stranger to controversial votes and once again this poll has galvanised debate.

With the wider discussion about the future of the UK very much in the news following Scotland’s vote on independence, local politicians will be watching the students with interest.