Sinn Féin is set to introduce legislation in the Dáil this week pressing the 26 County government to actively prepare for unity across the island.

The ‘Planning for Constitutional Change Bill 2026’ sets goals and timetables for measures that have to be taken to plan and prepare for constitutional change, in accordance with the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement.

It requires the Taoiseach to prepare and publish a Green Paper on Irish Unity within 12 months, to address issues as diverse as public finance, taxation, public services, human rights, governance arrangements and relations between Britain and Ireland.

The Bill also obliges the government to establish a Citizens’ Assembly on Unity within six months of the publication of the Green Paper. Convened and funded by the Department of An Taoiseach, this would bring together representatives of the people of Ireland from all communities and citizens who have a stake in the future.

As Sinn Féin is pushing legislation, Fine Gael has been talking about a blueprint, and there is a growing consensus that the time for hiding from the issue is over.

Mary Lou McDonald set the tone at her party’s annual commemoration of Wolfe Tone at Bodenstown, where she said the British state’s union is under “unprecedented pressure from a rising pro-independence tide.”

She said: “We are not here simply to commemorate and honour the past, but to testify that together we will unite Ireland and bring about a New Republic of the people, by the people, and for the people.”

She urged political leaders to stop pretending the question is not there, and start preparing for the vote that is coming: “The planning and preparation must start now … because we now have an unprecedented opportunity for all parties to enter the conversation and begin planning for unity with enthusiasm.”

She said the coalition government must “begin the very necessary and timely preparations for constitutional change,” and warned that “the greatest threat to stability is not preparing for constitutional change. It is refusing to prepare.”

The move last month by Fine Gael leader Simon Harris to publish a blueprint for Irish unity has sent a hopeful sign, but it is still only a first step. He said a future united Ireland has to be “a home for everybody, for people of all traditions,” and that “we have to have a conversation that is respectful and inclusive” - but the failure to spell out specific actions to progress unity remains a concern.

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Micheál Martin is still trying to dismiss the increasing conversation as “rhetoric, slogans and soundbites”, insisting it will achieve “nothing”.

He was responding to comments by his Fianna Fáil colleague, Minister Jim O’Callaghan, who has admitted the obvious when he said: “I think a future Irish government is going to have to prepare for constitutional change,” although warning that the process has to be handled carefully so unionism does not see it as a “steamroller.”

Mr O’Callaghan was attending a significant event, ‘The Future of These Islands’ conference in Belfast, organised by the SDLP, which saw contributions from across Irish nationalism.

It supported arguments that Brexit, and unionism’s obsession with it, have made the case for unity stronger and more imminent.

Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said there is a possibility of a Reform-led government in Britain that would harden the Brexit line and reopen questions about the border. Sinn Féin’s Lynn Boylan said this week that the North’s route back to the EU is through Irish unity.

Writing about the recent developments, Gerry Adams agreed the unity conversation is already under way, but “conversation alone is not enough.”

“To seize the opportunity, the Irish government has to step up,” he said. “It has to plan and work to create the conditions in which the unity referendums, North and South, are passed by citizens. The Bill is an important step in this process.”