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27th June 2016
12:20pm BST

In an interview with the BBC's Sunday Politics Scotland, Sturgeon said that the Scottish Parliament could try to block the UK’s exit from the European Union.
During a press conference on Friday following the result, Enda Kenny announced that the Dáil will be recalled today to discuss the impact Britain's withdrawal from the EU will have on Ireland and that there were more pressing issues than a border poll that needed to be addressed. In an exclusive interview following the result, we asked Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams about his views on the likelihood of the introduction of a physical border, the impact the result has for Irish people in the North, and if he truly believes a united Ireland is tangible during his tenure as leader. How do you see Brexit affecting the island of Ireland - Who will suffer most? Last week the Department of the Taoiseach gave a confidential briefing to the parties in advance of Brexit. What was and is clear from that briefing is the interconnectedness between the EU and both economies on the island. Every sector in our society – tourism, trade, the economy, health, climate and the environment, farming and rural issues, equality and workers rights issues – are all interrelated and interdependent on the EU. The Irish government has already indicated that it believes that it will need as much as three billion euro to manage Brexit. That’s three billion euro less it will have for projects, investments and other initiatives it hoped to have in the next five years. The north will lose a significant amount of EU money. Will the next Tory Prime Minister be prepared to make up that loss? I doubt it. Will we see the return to of a physical border - What is the likelihood that this can actually be afforded? Currently, we have a soft border. It is all but invisible. Where once customs posts, and then British Army checkpoints or cratered and blocked roads were the order of the day, now you can travel back and forward across the border without hindrance. That will end. To what extent is difficult to say. The border will now be the EU’s only land frontier with a non-EU member. As the Brexit divorce takes shape and the economic, political and social connections are severed the EU and Britain will have to take account of this. What will replace it no one knows at this point but it’s difficult to see how passport controls whether in the north, as people leave or in Britain as they land, whether by sea or air, will not be significantly tightened. The leave campaign was largely fought around the issue of immigrants. Would a right wing British conservative government be willing to leave a back door open for immigrants to perhaps enter through? And what of trading goods? And the taxes they raise for Britain? All of that has to be monitored and only so much can be accomplished by technology Brexit has repercussions for Ireland, north and south - What would you say to those who live south of the border that do not feel like this will affect them? The future for everyone on this island will be impacted by Brexit. There is no escape from it. There are some who believe that Brexit could benefit the Irish state in terms of the relocation of jobs and future Foreign Direct Investment. But those arguments are at this time unquantifiable. What we do know is that there are currently tens of thousands of jobs tied to the EU market and to projects dependent on EU funding. They are at risk as this Brexit divorce unfolds. At an economic, community and social level, the island of Ireland remaining within the EU is to everyone’s advantage. That should be a clear objective in the time ahead. Of course, that should not blind us to the problems within the EU. The unaccountable nature of much of the EU bureaucracy and the decision-making process that is often distant from citizens in member states is part of the reason for the Brexit vote. The treatment of Greece and the imposition of austerity policies on that state and others have also led to anger and frustration at the EU. The agreement with Turkey over refugees and the failure of the EU to respond to this humanitarian crisis in a reasonable fashion has undermined its credibility. Sinn Féin has long been critical of aspects of the EU project and in particular of the profound lack of democracy at its core. We do not support a two-tier European Union in which a small number of large member states take it upon themselves to dictate economic or other policy to smaller states. Sinn Féin’s approach to the European Union can best be described as a critical engagement. Where measures are in the interests of the Irish people, we support them and seek to further them. Where they are not, we oppose them and campaign for change. Nor do we support the drive for further centralisation of powers in the hands of an unelected EU bureaucracy or for an EU super state. Irish citizens do not want to live in a province of such a state where technocrats take decisions with no accountability. For this reason, Sinn Féin has resisted any attempt to undermine or dilute Irish neutrality. Irish republicans want a different kind of Europe - a Europe that is democratically accountable and transparent and responds to the needs and desires of its citizens. We are for a social Europe; a Europe of equals, of partnership and solidarity, in which member states, at times of adversity, work together in the spirit of co-operation. The EU should tackle problems we face collectively, and work together to build opportunity and prosperity for citizens of the region. We believe that Ireland’s place is in the European Union – but the European Union needs to change. The Brexit vote presents an opportunity to advance these objectives, to transform the EU into something better and to advance the desire for Irish re-unification. This year we celebrate the centenary of the 1916 Rising. It was hugely popular. There is an obvious desire among most citizens to undo the calamity that is partition and to reunite Ireland. It would be in our economic and political interests. The task of everyone, therefore, must be to agree policies and strategies that can minimise any problems that will arise as a consequence of Brexit and to use this crisis, if we are able, to create a new Ireland and a new EU. Do you think a united Ireland will be achievable in your tenure as leader? If we work hard enough and attract sufficient support it is possible. But whether it happens while I am party leader or not it will happen and Sinn Féin’s task in the immediate time ahead is to:Explore more on these topics: