The Taoiseach has said there should be greater clarity around the arrangements for the calling of a referendum on Irish unity in Northern Ireland.
At present, the decision rests with the UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
The 1998 legislation which underpins the Good Friday Agreement says such a referendum shall be called if it “appears likely” to the secretary that a majority would vote in favour.
Micheál Martin said the wording had been “deliberately vague” at the time.
He said he believed there now needed to be a “discussion” involving the British and Irish governments and Northern Ireland’s political parties to “tease out” in what circumstances the referendum would be run.
Mr Martin is due to meet British Prime Minister Andy Burnham later this month.
The Taoiseach made his remarks in an interview for BBC Northern Ireland podcast ‘Borderland – UK or United Ireland’.
In a 30-minute conversation he answered a series of questions about his views on unity.
He was asked about Mr Burham’s remarks during a visit to Belfast recently where he said a referendum was “off the table” and the focus was on improving Northern Ireland’s economic fortunes.
Mr Martin told the podcast he did not believe Mr Burnham had said anything “different to his predecessors”.
He said he welcomed the subsequent clarification from the British prime minister that he was committed to all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement, including the referendum clauses.
The Taoiseach said a better understanding of how and when such a poll would be run was desirable.
“That’s a discussion that should involve all in terms of teasing that out.
“It’s clear in the Good Friday Agreement – the possibility of a referendum – and at the moment it’s not satisfactory that it’s loosely put as a judgement call.
“How do you measure that, and so on, are legitimate issues that have to be teased out.”
He was critical of those who have demanded a timetable for a referendum.
He said that approach ignored the “enormous, substantial complexity” that would attach to the process of unity.
He said political opponents attacking him for his stance was “silly and childish”.
“I’ve been through too much on the north to just go the rhetoric game and to play the political campaigning.
“I’ve no interest in that anymore, too much of it is superficial, too much of it is shallow, that’s where I’m coming from.”
He said he had followed politics around Northern Ireland since his youth, had experienced the “Brits Out” sloganeering and believed the Troubles had been the greatest barrier to reconciliation and unity.
He cited the work of his Shared Island initiative which has invested €1bn and committed €1bn more.
He said this was “transformative and consequential”.
It was delivering cross border co-operation across a range of areas, including the hourly Belfast to Dublin train service.
He said the project was a “trojan horse” or a persuader to unity.
Mr Martin said an agreement on legacy was crucial to reconciliation on the island.
He said the British and Irish governments had reached a framework and he had heard nothing to suggest the British government was planning fundamental changes to it as the legislation passes through Westminster.
He said the legacy provisions and reform of the Stormont institutions to prevent future collapses would be the immediate priorities in talks with the British government.