Donna McGettigan: Start the Conversation on Irish Unity
Donna McGettigan speaks in support of a bill to produce a green paper and establish a citizens' assembly to begin a public discussion on Irish unity. The address stresses preparation, inclusion, and respect for the Good Friday Agreement as the democratic framework for any constitutional future.
Donna McGettigan outlines a bill proposed by leader Muirí Lú MacDonald that would produce a green paper and set up a citizens' assembly to facilitate a fully informed and inclusive conversation about Irish unity. The bill is presented as a planning measure: a way to prepare communities and institutions for an inevitable public debate.
McGettigan invokes the Good Friday Agreement as the peaceful, democratic pathway that allowed different traditions to listen and find common ground. She shares a personal account of being born in Belfast, of family loss and internment, and of the alienation caused by partition to underline why the discussion matters to ordinary lives.
The speaker addresses those who claim commitment to a united Ireland but resist an open plan or discussion, calling on them to explain their objections and to propose amendments if they are concerned. The speech frames the bill as a chance to shape a shared future rather than force outcomes on anyone.
McGettigan positions the green paper and citizens' assembly as practical steps to ensure every voice and tradition is heard when the question of unity is debated across communities, workplaces and kitchen tables. The address is both a personal appeal and a public call to prepare honestly and respectfully for the island's constitutional future.
About the bill
Donna McGettigan outlines a bill proposed by leader Muirí Lú MacDonald that would produce a green paper and set up a citizens' assembly to facilitate a fully informed and inclusive conversation about Irish unity. The bill is presented as a planning measure: a way to prepare communities and institutions for an inevitable public debate.
Legacy and personal testimony
McGettigan invokes the Good Friday Agreement as the peaceful, democratic pathway that allowed different traditions to listen and find common ground. She shares a personal account of being born in Belfast, of family loss and internment, and of the alienation caused by partition to underline why the discussion matters to ordinary lives.
Challenge to opponents
The speaker addresses those who claim commitment to a united Ireland but resist an open plan or discussion, calling on them to explain their objections and to propose amendments if they are concerned. The speech frames the bill as a chance to shape a shared future rather than force outcomes on anyone.
Why it matters
McGettigan positions the green paper and citizens' assembly as practical steps to ensure every voice and tradition is heard when the question of unity is debated across communities, workplaces and kitchen tables. The address is both a personal appeal and a public call to prepare honestly and respectfully for the island's constitutional future.
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Transcript
Thank you for being able to be here and to contribute in support of this bill and I am proud that our leader, Muirí Lú MacDonald, has brought this bill. It is a bill of hope in our future. This bill is about planning responsibly. It is about producing a green paper which is a report used to start a public discussion. Establishing a citizens' assembly so that people can have a fully informed, fully inclusive and respectful conversation about Irish unity. Almost 30 years ago, people from different political traditions came together through difficult and sometimes extremely intensive negotiations. They listened to one another, they found common ground and out of that came the Good Friday Agreement. That agreement has changed lives and it gave people hope. It gave us a peaceful and democratic pathway to shape our constitutional future and it recognised that every voice matters, every identity deserves respect and the future of this island must always be decided by the people who share it. For me, that hope is deeply personal. Born in Belfast, I have lost family. I have also had family interned and tortured, so I know right well what partition has done to my family. We were made to feel that we did not belong. We moved south and we were told to go back where we belong from. Am I not Irish? Where do I belong? I want to belong in an Ireland where my family can share the same health service, the same education, same currency and no matter where you are born, your future is equal. The conversation is already happening and no matter what way this vote goes, it will happen. We hear this in our communities, we hear it in workplaces, around kitchen tables, across this land. Now is the time to prepare. We all have a responsibility to engage honestly and openly and we need to listen to every voice and every tradition. This is not about forcing a united Ireland on anyone, it's about shaping a new Ireland together. But I'm hearing that there are those here who call themselves Republicans, who stand at the graves of patriot dead claiming that they want a united Ireland, who in their hearts believe in a united Ireland, who know the hope they give to people when they talk about bringing a united Ireland. These very people may be voting against a very simple thing, a plan and a discussion for everyone on a united Ireland. And I don't get this, what are you afraid of? If you're so concerned, bring it forward for amendments. Or is it that you're letting one person, one person who could may well soon be consigned to episodes of reeling in the ears, ensure that you vote against your very heart? And when that happens, how will you explain that to people in your constituency? That you voted against them being able to bring their voices being heard? How will you stand at your next commemoration with a true speech? What will you be complaining then that you're for a united Ireland but against having a plan or a discussion on it?