Calls from dissident republican councillor Tomás Ó Curraoin for an unconditional "British withdrawal from Ireland" were met with applause by other members at Galway County Council's plenary meeting last Monday.
The Connemara man was speaking during a motion proposed by Cllr Dermot Connolly of Sinn Féin to call on the Government to publish a plan for Irish unity and secure a date for a border poll.
However, Cllr Ó Curraoin's advocacy of a more direct approach received the most vocal response from other members, and audible shouts of "hear, hear" could be heard around the chamber in response to his contribution.
"I suppose, we are where we are. We've all been waiting to get the Fourth Green Field back - that's the problem," Cllr Ó Curraoin said.
"But with that, what we need is British withdrawal from Ireland - unconditionally.
"A day and date that they're leaving here, and let us Catholic and Protestant and Dissenter decide our own future without things that they've been interfering with since 1169. Time to go."
Cllr Ó Curraoin is a member of Republican Sinn Féin - a faction that split from Sinn Féin at the party's Ard-Fheis in 1986 following a vote in favour of members taking their seats in Dáil Éireann if elected.
Republican Sinn Féin do not recognise the legitimacy of the Irish Government or the Dáil, and are widely understood to have close ties to the dissident paramilitary group known as the Continuity IRA.
Something fishy
Speaking in support of his own motion, Cllr Dermot Connolly said he was inspired to put the matter to the council after chatting to young boys about fishing in Achill. It is still unclear how this had any relevance to the topic being discussed.
"Look it, I was in Achill there earlier a couple of weeks back and there was two young fellas down at the pier," Cllr Connolly said.
"I went over to them and they were trying to fish. And they turned around to me and said, 'What kind of fish is here'. I said, 'Mackerel is the best.'
Cllr Dermot Connolly
"They were probably 11 or 12 and I had a good conversation with them... and with that a shoal of mackerel came in and away they went and 'twas grand.
"I said to myself, them two young fellas, the next time the presidential election comes around here in the south, will they have a vote? And I just thought of the motion and I said I'll bring this to Galway County Council."
The motion was ultimately successful and the county council will now formally write to the Taoiseach's office and request that a Joint Oireachtas Committee on Irish unity be established and that an all-island Citizens' Assembly also be established to debate the matter.
