Northern Ireland Prime Minister calls for referendum on unification within 10 years. Prime Minister O'Neill was the first to take office from a party advocating unification with Ireland in the UK's Northern Ireland autonomous government.
In Northern Ireland, after years of bitter conflict between Catholics who want separation from Britain and Protestants who oppose it, political parties representing both sides jointly run an autonomous government under a 1998 peace agreement. The Sinn Féin party was originally the political wing of the IRA (Irish Republican Army), which has repeatedly engaged in armed struggles in the past.