Action Alert: Conference on United Ireland - Encourage US Debate
Published: 25 November, 2005
Action Alert:
1. United Ireland Conference today in County Monaghan
2. Push for United Ireland "Green Paper", London and Dublin involvement as "persuaders", and periodic referenda on Irish Border
3. Encourage US participation in Debate
In connection with the 100th Anniversary celebration of Sinn Fein as a political party, a conference on issues surrounding the establishment of a United Irealnd is taking place today in County Monaghan.
The following summary of a Derry Journal article by Mitchel McLoughlin deals with Sinn Fein's call for a "Green Paper" on Irish Unity by the Irish government, asks the British and Irish governments to be "persuaders" for a United Ireland in the debate, and, significantly, calls for referenda on a United Ireland every seven years as called for in the Good Friday Agreement to test the waters and to spark debate.
It gives us something positive and concrete to work towards.
Please:
1] Distribute the McLoughlin article summary to your activists, local media and political leaders. Make clear Irish Northern Aid's support of these positions. All are democratic and positive.
Political leaders who wish to speak out on this issue, pro or con, will be featured by us in the future at conferences, the web site, etc.
We should be encouraging politicians to take stands on a United Ireland, particularly as House and Senate elections near. Getting a member of congress, or someone in or running for any office, to make a positive statement or to sign the petition would be an important development.
You can find "The Case for a United Ireland" on the INA web site - www.inac.org.
2] Encourage all to sign the petition in support of a Green Paper on a United Ireland on the INA web site.
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Become 'Persuaders' For United Ireland
Friday 25th November 2005
Sinn Fein's Mitchel McLaughlin says there is 'no logical reason' why the Irish and British governments cannot become 'persuaders' for a united Ireland
Writing in today's 'Derry Journal', the Foyle MLA insists the time is now right for the start of a "constitutional debate" on what shape this "new Ireland' will take.
Mr. McLaughlin, Sinn Fein's general secretary, argues that both governments and all of the political parties in Ireland
The Derry Assemblyman's views coincide with a major conference at which the party's all-Ireland strategy will be planned and developed.
Hundreds of republicans from across the country will gather in Co. Monaghan tomorrow as part of Sinn Fein's "Cead Bliain" centenary celebrations. Mr. McLaughlin, writing in today's paper, says that, if the Irish Government is serious about Irish unity, then it should produce a Green Paper - a public consultation document seeking views on a particular subject - on the necessary measures to deliver this objective.
The pursuit of this democratic objective in a peaceful and democratic manner requires strategies to educate, persuade and reassure," he asserts. "So, why not a Green Paper that deals with the process."
The Foyle MLA says that, following the publication of the Green Paper, the Irish Government must move to "persuade" the British Government to hold an immediate referendum on the issue of a united Ireland
"This would give non-unionists the opportunity to sell the benefits of the Green Paper and Irish unity to those who belong to the unionist tradition and others that need convinced," he says.
"It would also present unionists with an equal opportunity to attempt to persuade republicans of what they believe are the benefits of continue British rule in the North. And it would allow republicans to get a better understanding of the fears and concerns that unionists have about living in an Ireland independent of Westminster
This debate, he says, will create the "perfect forum" for republicans and unionists to "finally talk to each other on the basis of equality about the positive aspects of our respective aspirations."
He adds: "Such a dialogue, conducted between equals, is also the only peaceful and democratic way to resolve the mutually incompatible constitutional aspirations of the nationalist and unionist traditions in Ireland
Mr. McLaughlin acknowledges that it is "probable" the result of a border referendum in the immediate future would return a majority in favor of retaining the "constitutional status quo".
"But it would afford all the citizens of this island the opportunity of an open and honest debate on the opposing views around the issue of sovereignty."
The kick-starting of such a process, he says, will herald - in practical and political terms - a "mutual commitment" between representatives of the nationalist and unionist traditions across the island to the democratic process and to "persuasion by entirely democratic and peaceful means."
The result of a border referendum, he says, would act as a "barometer" of the strength of each position and indicate what change, if any, would be predictable from subsequent referenda which, he says, would have to occur "every seven years thenceforth."