Republican News · Thursday 7 March 2002

McLaughlin delivers United Ireland message in Australia

Sinn Féin National Chairperson Mitchel McLaughlin continued his whistlestop tour of major centres of population in Australia last week, which included Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth. He received an enthusiastic reception from politicians and the Australian/Irish community.

Mitchel mapped out the progression of the political and peace processes to the audiences that he addressed and explained why Sinn Féin believes that this progression on both fronts clearly shows the direction in which the tide of history is flowing.

McLaughlin predicted that within 15 years, we would be in the infancy of a United Republic of Ireland and urged unionists to recognise the inevitable trend and to start now to negotiate the shape of such a constitutional eventuality.

Referring to the next 10 to 15 years as "the end phase" in the countdown to a United Ireland, he told his Australian audiences:

"Despite the problems - and many of those problems remain - there has been very significant progress from an Irish republican perspective. We believe that we are now approaching the end of what has been a very long and historic struggle for national independence.

"We are coming to a point where I believe it can be confidently predicted that within this generation the British link, the British governmental and administrative involvement in Ireland will be brought to a peaceful and democratic conclusion."

McLaughlin commented:

"I believe that more and more unionists are realizing the futility of duplication of services and government structures on a small island of 5.5 million people. I believe that the unionist business community sees its economic future in a one island one economic system."

Addressing the political representatives in the audiences, the Sinn Fein chairperson stressed:

"Those in the international community can also assist by using their influence to persuade unionist political leaders that it is in the interests of those that they represent to enter into open and honest debate about the best future for all the people of Ireland. By using its influence the international community can also impress on the British government the importance of it being scrupulously impartial in its dealings with the pro-Union and pro-United Ireland opinion. British government representatives cannot publicly declare that they are unionists and at the same time claim to be acting in an impartial capacity. The British government too needs to recognise the direction that change is taking us and prepare for the inevitable outcome. Irish Unity."