Northern Ireland could hold referendum about leaving UK

Northern Ireland has begun a "decade of opportunity" during which it will hold a vote on unification with Ireland, the UK territory's first nationalist leader said in an interview aired Sunday, Report informs, citing Voice of America.

Pro-Irish unity politician Michelle O'Neill made history on Saturday becoming Northern Ireland's first minister, in a return of power-sharing after the biggest pro-UK party ended a two-year boycott.

Speaking shortly after the landmark for the UK region, Sinn Fein's O'Neill said she expected a referendum on reunifying with the Republic of Ireland in the next 10 years.

"Yes. I believe we're in a decade of opportunity," she told Sky News when asked if she anticipated a so-called border poll within that timeframe.

"There are so many things that are changing all the old norms, the nature of the state, the fact that a nationalist republican was never supposed to be first minister. This all speaks to that change."

Northern Ireland was carved from Ireland in 1921 with an in-built Protestant majority, after pro-UK unionists had threatened civil war as the island sought self-rule from Britain.

Instead, three decades of sectarian conflict erupted within the UK territory in the late 1960s.