Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern believes it will take “several years of work” before a poll on a united Ireland can be called.

Bertie Ahern, who signed the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, previously said a poll could possibly be called on the 30th anniversary of the Agreement.

The former Fianna Fáil leader said today a lot of work will need to be done before a referendum can be called, and outlined three issues that need to be addressed.

“I want to put that in context, I made the speech on the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement when I was in Queens [University] that good day when we were with Tony Blair, Bill Clinton and George Mitchell,” show.

“And at the time I made the point, it wasn’t the main point of my speech, but I made the point that the Good Friday Agreement did make provision for at some stage to have a referendum.

“The three conditions I set at that stage are still the three conditions: One, that the institutions had to be stable and of course at that stage there was no institutions.

“The second one was that there had to be a proper plan and that everything had to be planned out and everyone understood what the referendum would be.

“And the third point was that everything should be done by the Republic to try to work with the Unionists and the Loyalists to achieve agreement.”

Mr Ahern continued: “And it was only when those three things were done should we have a vote and I said that a possible timespan for that would be the 30th anniversary of the Agreement.

“The reason I said that was very much linked to the fact that at the time, there was pressure to have an immediate border poll, which I considered crazy.

“It was in that context and it wasn’t a question of putting a date out there and saying regardless there would be a referendum.

“I just want to be very clear about that.”

Bertie Ahern and Senator George Mitchell (left) at an event to mark the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, at Queen’s University in Belfast.

Mr Ahern said that Mr Blair, Mr Clinton and Mr Mitchell “certainly agreed” with the pathway and the three conditions for a referendum when they met at Queens University in Belfast in 2018.

He added: “There’s very little work done in this area as I pointed out many times in the last three years since I made that speech.

“I still think there has to be an enormous amount of work to try to, as we did for the Good Friday Agreement, to work with the unionist and loyalist groups who I have huge respect for.

“And I think these people deserve and require that people work with them and try and tease out issues.

“If those three things aren’t done we’ll never get around to a date.

“So, my argument three years ago and it hasn’t changed, even though the institutions have been up for the last 15 months, is that if you don’t do these things you’ll never get around to setting a date.

“But if you haven’t the preparatory work done, having a vote in a vacuum is of no value.”

‘Several years of work’

Mr Ahern did not give a specific date on when a poll could be put to the people, rather he stated it would be “several years”.

“In 2018, I felt if everything was ideal it would be a decade, and I still think there are several years of work,” he said.

“I dealt with the unionists and the loyalists along with the nationalists and republicans, I had great respect for them, I had great respect or the negotiators, I had great respect for the fact they were willing to compromise.

“I hope that’s still the position, I’m not involved in the day to day anymore.”

It comes after the future potential of a United Ireland was discussed on a special Claire Byrne Live programme last night.