Impatience grows on Irish unity

The Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has insisted that referendums on Irish unity “must happen in this decade” and called on the Dublin and London governments to “play a leading role in fostering a mature and positive conversation about the future”.

As talks resumed between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael negotiating teams on government formation in advance of the next meeting of the Dublin parliament on January 22nd, Ms McDonald said the “momentum continues to grow for the ending of partition and the reunification of our country” and added that the “incoming government must prioritise planning and preparations for constitutional change”.

“Irish unity referendums must happen in this decade,” she said. “The people, North and South, must have their say. It is the responsibility of both governments, in Dublin and London, to play a leading role in fostering a mature and positive conversation about the future.”

Successive British governments have refused to say what is the exact criteria for calling a Border poll, a key element of the 1998 Good Friday peace deal.

Sinn Féin has said the decision of the party’s Economy minister in the North of Ireland, Conor Murphy, to seek election to the Seanad, the upper chamber of the Dublin parliament, is a sign of its determination to push for Irish reunification in the South.

Mr Murphy was announced after Christmas as one of six Sinn Féin’s candidates to run in the forthcoming 26 County Seanad elections. By the arcane rules of the Seanad, his election is all but certain.

Mr Murphy said that the decision would see him quit as a Stormont Assembly member and a minister, and that his aim is to advance preparations for a border poll and Irish unity.

“Reunification and constitutional change has been the primary purpose of my involvement in politics since it was a teenager,” he said.

The Sinn Féin chief negotiator and Newry and Armagh representative, who served as the constituency’s MP for a decade up to 2015, said he wanted to bring a “northern perspective” to the “intensifying” debate around Irish unity.

“I think almost all parties in the recent Dáil election committed in their manifestos to a more intensive and more structured approach in terms of their preparations for unity,” he said.

“Certainly, if I am elected, I alongside my Oireachtas colleagues would intend to hold them to account in relation to that. This is not a time for putting your head in the sand, this is a time that the debate is happening all around us.”

Ms McDonald said Mr Murphy’s candidacy underscored her party’s “commitment to representing the entire island of Ireland, promoting the all-Ireland economy and advancing the Irish unity debate” in the Dublin parliament.

Meanwhile, the former SDLP leader Mr Eastwood said conversations about a unity referendum had “moved to a different level” since Brexit.

“I think part of the problem for the last number of years has been lots of parties have been saying the right thing about this but not actually putting their shoulder to the wheel to do it,” he said recently.

Mr Eastwood said Irish unity would be a “major undertaking” and couldn’t be achieved “unless we have the planning work done by the Irish government”.

Meanwhile, some republican groups remain unconvinced that there is a political solution to the British occupation in the North.

“It is evident that our pro-British political class lacks the steadfastness and conviction necessary to truly represent the interests of our nation,” said a statement by New Year’s Day statement by Republican Sinn Fein.

“Their unwavering loyalty to British policies and agendas signifies a concerning level of susceptibility to external influence, compromising their ability to truly advocate for the needs and desires of our citizenry.”

And in a New Year statement in the name of the IRA, posted in locations around Dublin, the New IRA vowed that it would continue to target British installations and Crown Force personnel “when and where we choose” - until the British government commits to removing itself from Ireland “and leave Ireland to control its own affairs”.

Urgent Appeal