Next Irish government should begin planning for unity says former SDLP leader

The next Irish government should include planning for constitutional change across the island among its commitments, a former SDLP leader has said.

Colum Eastwood said his party’s New Ireland Commission – set up to facilitate discussions on the possibilities of a united Ireland – had written to all the parties in the Republic of Ireland before and after the general election.

Exploratory talks between parties are continuing in Dublin with the aim of forming a government in the new year, with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael together just a couple of seats short of a Dail majority.

Referendum

Mr Eastwood told the BBC’s Sunday Politics programme that conversations about a unity referendum had “moved to a different level” since Brexit in 2016.

The Foyle MP said: “I have heard people talking about it that I wouldn’t have heard talking about it before and I think we now have really a responsibility on those of us who want to see change to make it happen, but also to make it happen in a way that brings people with us.

“We’ve had probably thousands of conversations in different places – places you wouldn’t imagine – with people who don’t agree with us and people who do agree with us, but now we have to move that on.

“Over the past number of months, one of the things we did was work with the parties in the south.

“Before the election in the south, we asked them all to make a commitment to working towards Irish unity and to planning for Irish unity, if they form part of the next government.

“Every one of them wrote back with that commitment and we saw that in their manifestos.

“Now we have the very interesting process of forming a government in the south where there is going to be long periods of negotiation.

“I’ve written and spoken to them again about the need to turn those manifesto pledges into real commitments in the programme for government and I am hopeful that will happen.

“I think part of the problem for the last number of years has been lots of parties have been saying the right thing about this but not actually putting their shoulder to the wheel to do it.”

Unity

Mr Eastwood said Irish unity would be a “major undertaking” and couldn’t be achieved “unless we have the planning work done by the Irish government”.

He added: “What we have to do is make sure all of the parties who say they believe in this are committed to actually working towards it.

“We’ve got that major commitment in the manifestos, I think we’ll get that commitment in the southern programme for government.”

The SDLP politician said he had more time to devote to working with the New Ireland Commission since he resigned the party leadership earlier this year.

He added: “The reason we want to see a new Ireland and constitutional change is because we think we can do better with the health service, we think we can have a better, more open, more prosperous economy for our young people as part of a new Ireland.

“This has to be about lifting people out of poverty, giving people opportunity, having better public services.

“The bottom line is that ain’t working as part of the UK with all the conversations we’ve heard about the state of public finances in Britain affecting people in Northern Ireland.

“I think we can do things better, I think we can design our own future that involves everybody, that makes sure that people on this island are making decisions about their economic and social future.”

Preparations

He said: “The next stage is the civil service in the south and the political parties are tasked with actually preparing the case for constitutional change.

“It has to be remembered this decision around a referendum will be taken in London and it will make absolutely no sense for a Dublin government not to have done the preparatory work, not just to make the case but to be ready if it happens.”

The 1998 Good Friday Agreement sets out that the Northern Ireland Secretary can call a border poll when he or she believes a majority of people in the region support a change to the constitutional status.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously said the issue of a united Ireland is not on his horizon and Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has said he believed the prospect of a vote on Irish unity is “off into the distance”.