Claims constitutional discussion ‘divisive’ rejected

Taoiseach Micheal Martin’s insistence on a vague ‘reconciliation’ in the north of Ireland as a precondition for Irish reunification has been dismissed across the political spectrum.

Speaking recently ahead of Easter Rising commemorations, he sought to delay a border poll on Irish unity, which he views as being ‘divisive’.

Those remarks were condemned by SDLP leader Colum Eastwood, who wrote that “reconciliation is a moral imperative for our whole society” but the southern establishment “can’t use it to justify telling citizens in the north that we can’t have a decent economy, jobs and public services. Don’t tell us we can’t imagine a better future.”

Former Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar also chimed in, noting that the 26 out of Ireland’s 32 Counties would not have achieved freedom if full reconciliation had been a pre-condition.

“Reconciliation can be achieved in a New and United Ireland as readily as a divided one,” he wrote.

Unionists’ British identity will have to be respected rather than just tolerated in a united Ireland, said Sinn Fein Senator Conor Murphy, but he warned that the need for reconciliation cannot become a veto for unionists opposed to a united Ireland.

He said that there would never have been a Good Friday peace deal in 1998 if that rule had been set then.

“What you need is a majority, but what we need to do is to make it as seamless and as painless as possible for people who have doubts and concerns about it, and to move in a very wholesome way to address those concerns,” he said.

It comes amid a growing debate in Ireland over the possible timing of a unity referendum, known as a border poll.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has reiterated her party’s stance that a referendum on a united Ireland should happen in the next five years.

Speaking on RTE’s flagship Late Late Show, the Sinn Féin leader said she believes that “we’re living in the end days of partition”.

She added: “Actually, this year marks a century since the Boundary Commission partitioned our island.

“So a century ago, people in Tyrone, in your own home county of County Down, woke up one morning and everything had changed for them and they had been left behind. And then the history unfolded, as we know.

“We’re now at a point where we have real opportunities, economically, socially, to build an Ireland that creates wealth, prosperity, happiness, security for our entire island population.

“And I think we need to grasp that. And I also know that we need to plan for it.”

She said that “as the conversation deepens and as we listen to each other carefully and as the opportunities become more apparent, I believe that support will grow. But the government here in Dublin has to lead that.

“They can’t bury their heads in the sand.”

She said the “great challenge” of the process was to convince unionists and those who feel British that their identity would be upheld and defended after reunification.

“That’s what makes it exciting. And by the way, if you are British in a partitioned Ireland, you will be British in a united Ireland. That’s who you are. That’s your identity. We’re not trying to challenge that.

“But I’m saying very directly that this island, this entire economy is better off as a single unit. And there’s evidence of that already. I mean, in the time of the Good Friday Agreement, the all-Ireland trade was somewhere in the region of about two billion. It’s now, what, about 14 billion all those years on.

“The border is a liability for us. We have unfinished business, and I think we should have this as a national project that we reconcile, we unite our island, and we build a place where our young people, all of them, whatever their background, have their right chance here at home and that we’re not seeing them unscathed.”

Ms McDonald accepted there will be people who are “absolutely committed to a unionist position” and “that’s okay” as across the island there are committed nationalists and republicans, unionists and others.

She said there is also a “whole swathe of people in the middle” who “ultimately need to be engaged in this conversation”, describing it as a “really exciting time it’s a time of opportunity”.

Sinn Féin has given a cautious welcome to comments by British Direct Rule Minister Fleur Anderson that the criteria for holding a unity referendum will be based on opinion polling.

A recent poll by LucidTalk has shown that an increasing majority, 53% of people in the Six Counties, aspire to Irish unity within 20 years, with just 43% opposed.

The refusal of the Dublin and London governments to acknowledge the rising support for unity has led to the belief that the two governments have already reneged on their obligations under the Good Friday Agreement to initiate the process for a unity referendum.

But when asked about the constitutional future of the North in an interview with Agenda NI, Ms Anderson appeared to finally confirm that opinion polling would be sufficient for the British Direct Ruler to call a border poll.

Despite some distancing by British officials and Direct Ruler Hilary Benn, who claimed “nothing has changed”, the remarks have been seen as a significant indicator of the direction of thinking in Downing Street. Confronted over the issue during questions at the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer sidestepped the issue and notably did not contradict Ms Anderson’s view.

Reacting to her comments, Sinn Fein MP Paul Maskey said this week: “Successive British governments have refused to spell out the criteria for the unity referendums.

“While the NIO were quick to distance the government from her words nevertheless Fleur Anderson’s remarks give an indication of what that criteria might be.

“This is especially important in the context of opinion polling over recent years, as well as demographic changes and electoral shifts.”

He noted that even the most conservative poll conducted recently pointed to a pro-union majority by 2027 and that “the imperative of planning for change is overwhelming”.

He said: “The conversation on a new Ireland is thriving across society. The Irish government must support these conversations by putting in place forums to facilitate engagement on all key policy areas. A Citizen’s Assembly or Assemblies are sensible and practical measures.

“It is time to start harnessing the massive opportunities presented by Irish unity and to begin planning systematically for constitutional change.”

Urgent Appeal