Rose Conway-Walsh Calls for Urgent Planning for Irish Unity
Rose Conway-Walsh concluded the debate urging immediate preparation for Irish unity and set out concrete steps: a green paper, a white paper, a joint Oireachtas committee on reunification and citizens' assemblies. She called on the government and the Taoiseach, as co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, to expand the shared island unit, include the diaspora and address outstanding questions urgently.
Institutional proposals
Rose Conway-Walsh outlined specific institutional measures she says are needed to prepare for reunification. She urged the production of a green paper on Irish unity and a white paper, formation of a joint Oireachtas committee dedicated to reunification, and the use of citizens' assemblies to involve the public in planning.
Urgency and inclusion of diaspora
She stressed the importance of acting urgently and asked parliamentary party groups to discuss the matter without delay. Conway-Walsh emphasised the need to include the diaspora - the thousands living in Britain and America - in the debate and preparation work.
Government role and the Good Friday Agreement
Conway-Walsh highlighted the government's particular responsibility as co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement and said the Taoiseach has a key role. She welcomed the shared island unit but said it must be expanded and given urgency to answer the necessary questions.
Policy implications of a united island
Conway-Walsh argued that major challenges - climate change, public health, energy security and food security - cannot be tackled on a divided island and that working together is essential. She called for agreed preparations now so the island can face those issues jointly in the future.
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To conclude this debate, I do want to thank everybody who's contributed tonight. I think it's very important, including the government. But I think what is obvious from it is exactly as it says in the motion, what we need to do. We need a green paper in Irish unity, a white paper. We need a joint Oireachtas committee dedicated to reunification, and we need citizens' assemblies. Were we to do that, even in itself, we would make a lot of progress in this space. We all agree that we need to prepare. So let's not go over the old ground. Let's agree here and now we need to prepare, but we need to do it urgently, absolutely urgently. We also need to include our diaspora, the thousands of people who are living in Britain, in America, Irish people who really want to be part of this debate. But the government have a particular role to play as co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, and the Taoiseach does. So what I would ask each of you in your parliamentary party groups is to have that discussion, have that conversation. Let it unite us. This is much bigger than party politics. We need to do this. We owe it to people to do this. We owe it to the people who are currently living on this island, right across the board, and we owe it to the future to do this preparation work and to do it now. But there has to be, I welcome the shared island unit and the work that that does, but that has to be expanded and there has to be an urgency around answering the questions that we need to ask here, that we need to have answered. We cannot hope to tackle things like climate change, like public health, like energy security, food security, all of those things. We cannot do it with a separated island. We can only do it together. So let's go forward from here and do what needs to be done. We know how that is. Thank you very much.
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