Brian Stanley: Calls to Prepare for a United Ireland After Brexit

It is 27 years since the Good Friday Agreement, since this document was endorsed north and south, over 100 years since partition. A lot of us at the time of the Good Friday Agreement, if we are being honest, were reluctant supporters of it. One line in it which I will read, meaning the British Government, the Government of Ireland Act 1920, is repealed, and this Act shall have the effect notwithstanding any other previous enactments. That line in an annex in the document would have been the thing that tilted it for me, the fact that Britain was prepared to relinquish its claim to the north if the majority of people north and south in referendum decided on the United Ireland. That line was key. It is over 100 years since partition, and Conley predicted a carnival of reaction, and how correct he was. Two reactionary states, that is exactly what we got. One orange state, one southern state that was a narrow clerical state. The Good Friday Agreement provided for national reunification of the territory, and it is time that we step up with the Gere Minister. Preparations need to begin, and winning support and planning for reunification needs to be given a new importance, not just by Government, but by all of us. Partition failed. The north is a failed political entity. We have managed to circle the square for now, and it turns us along, but it is not really a successful political entity. It is a failed military project on behalf of Britain. That failed as well. And a failed economic entity, because it cannot survive on its own. The British Government's actions caused division, conflict, and retarded the economic and political development of this island over the last 100 years. We are in a better place now, but we must recognise it is a small island, you know, there are seven million people on a relatively small country on the north-western edge of Europe, and that is a fact. So it does not make sense to have it divided with two separate systems, two systems operating back-to-back. Separate currencies, separate revenue systems, separate taxation, energy systems, transport, agricultural, education, and so on. And none of this ever made political or economic sense, and definitely does not now. Particularly with the arrival of Brexit, that was the game-changer. And the game-changer to open a lot of people's eyes in the north, who would be soft unionists, or maybe even hard unionists. It created a multitude of trading and political problems. It exposed how ridiculous partition was. A hard border was just about avoided because of the joint efforts of opposition, government, and a whole lot of other people as well in Europe and everywhere else who contributed to that, and ensured that we did not have a hard border. And the six counties were retained in the EU single market, just about, for trade movement of goods and services. And that is welcome. But problems remain. Problems remain. Bureaucracy with trade, the two currencies, the two sets of standards, British and EU revenue systems. We cannot get away from that. It does cause problems. There has been some positive progress that has been made since the Good Friday Agreement. The development of the all-Irland economy, that is happening. That is happening. As we are talking here, there is more and more economic connections between North and South, and that is good. The North-South Ministerial Council is meeting again, and that is positive. Cooperation on several matters such as infrastructure, health, energy, and now domestic violence, which is overdue. But we need to expand all of this into other areas, give agriculture environmental protection, because environmental damage does not recognise any borders, education, and a whole range of other areas. The economic logic demands that. And infrastructure, the plans to advance the A5, the Ulster Canal, Narrowater Bridge, which are underway, all of that needs to move ahead of pace. Another critical infrastructure now needs to be progressed, rail connections. But most important of all is the North-South electricity interconnector. We cannot have it both ways, talk about United Ireland, and somehow obstruct or slow down the interconnector between North and South. This is critical if you want to have an all-Irland energy system, an all-Irland energy market. That is long overdue, and that must happen at ASAP. The North-South implementation bodies are functioning. Waterways Ireland, Food Safety Board, Inter-Trade Ireland, and Forrest Changa, the EU programme's implementation body, and Irish locks and lights. But new ones need to be created, and that was provided for within the Good Friday Agreement. Reunited Ireland has to be a just and inclusive Ireland, a system based on social justice, with proper public services, workers' rights respected, disabled people included. Military neutrality has to be upheld. We need to be a strong voice in Europe, and we can be critical sometimes in Europe, it doesn't mean that you are anti-European, and we need to have an outlook, we need to have an Ireland that is outlooking internationally, you know, helping the people at Gaza and other parts of the world where people are suffering. And there are questions about whether an Assembly should remain in the North. Those issues need to be discussed. Should Sormans still exist? No, perhaps it should. Maybe that needs to be worked into it, and how would all of that function? Those matters need to be considered. Politically in the North and the South, the ground is shifting. People in the North are more open to discussions around reunification, and that is within communities that were traditionally hostile to it. There is a growing demand within the Nationalist community. The debate has changed, the debate has changed in here. You know, if I think back to when I came in here nearly 15 years ago, this debate would have been very, very different. And I welcome that, that parties that would have been, you know, I won't say lokewarm, but maybe even stone-cold to the idea, are now able to discuss it. And that's good, and that shows progress. So most parties now see this as important. So the North-South implementation bodies, as I said, they do need to be expanded. And progress, further progress needs to be met there. The development of a national health system is really important, and that will be key, because people in the North, they have a system, they are a health system, there are problems with it. They have a niece who works in it. There are problems with it. There are problems with one here. There are strengths in both of them too, in both health systems. So they need to be harnessed, and we need to create a proper national health system, Irish national health system. So we need to establish a citizens' assembly, or civic forum, or a North-South forum, or an all-Ireland forum. We need to move on the voting rights for presidential elections, and indeed, I believe, the Shannad elections for people in the North. We need to tease out the practicalities of that, and we need to identify opportunities, and start planning for a referendum. We need to promote the debate, and while doing that we need to respect other people's identity, and the identity of unionists, that needs to be respected. We need to assure unionists of fairness in a 32-county reunited Ireland. We need to assure them in relation to political representation. Political representation in a new Dáil, a new 32-county Dáil. As I said earlier, you know, should Stormont still be there? Perhaps it should be. That's a discussion that needs to happen. We need to talk to those who are not yet convinced North and South. If we don't talk at them, what some parties do, we need to talk to them, and we need to listen to them. The new president, Ooc Duran Nuwe, will have a key role in this, and I believe Catherine Connolly will be the best one to do that. We need to get that referendum going within this decade. We need to start the plans, get them in advance for Irish unity. If we fail to plan, we plan to fail. Minister, Minister, if there is any heckling, can you just stop any heckling, please? Thanks. Michael Martin says the time is not right, you get an opportunity, I will use my opportunity. Michael Martin says the time is not now, full reconciliation has to be a precondition, but that will mean it will never happen. Yes, we need to advance reconciliation, and we should promote it, and of course we should. I have met people from the unionist community in the past, including some Lilas, and we should reach out and meet people who were opponents. Reconciliation is important, and we must continue working with that, but it can't be a block to progress. So, Michael Martin says the time isn't right, but the time is now, the time is now to start this work. Coil your luck, and we need to move on with it. But I'm all good. Thanks very much, David.