Mid Ulster MP Cathal Mallaghan has today announced that Leas Uachtarán Shinn Féin Michelle O’Neill MLA will be the guest speaker at the Seamus Heaney Homeplace in Bellaghy at 7pm on 26 February for the next People’s Assembly on Irish unity organised by Sinn Féin’s Commission on the Future of Ireland.
This event will be the 22nd such public event held by the Commission in the last two years. The meeting will have an independent chairperson and panel. These will be announced later.
Cathal Mallaghan MP said:
“The aim of the People’s Assembly is to provide a space in which citizens can have their say on future constitutional arrangements; on political and democratic structures and governance; on identity and culture; on the role of the Irish government in the setting up a Citizens’ Assembly and of the Irish and British governments in setting a date for the holding of the unity referendum provided for in the Good Friday Agreement.
The conversation on the future shape of the New Ireland is increasing. It is the most important public conversation of our lifetimes. Many citizens are looking for an alternative to the failed partitionist system that has existed for 100 years.
Under the broad title – ‘Have your Say – The New Ireland is for Everyone’ – The Commission on the Future of Ireland invites citizens to contribute to this important conversation.
The Commission is specifically inviting the people of Mid Ulster; members of the unionist and PUL community, business representatives, community groups, organisations, NGOs, sectoral representatives, ethnic minorities and all those interested in the future, to join us in the Seamus Heaney Centre on 26 February for a discussion on the future shape of the island of Ireland.
Last July the Oireachtas based Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement published its report: ‘Perspectives on Constitutional Change: Finance and Economics.’ The Committee which represents all of the main parties in Leinster House, called on the Irish government to begin the work now of preparing for Irish Unity. The report stated: “Preparation for referenda on Irish unification will be a historic task. The Committee calls for preparation to begin immediately.”
For this process to be successful the Joint Committee called for a whole of government approach, led by the Department of the Taoiseach, and involving all government departments and state agencies examining the implications of constitutional change.
The report acknowledges that there “are no insurmountable economic or financial barriers to unification. That the economic success of a new Ireland is in our own hands. What is needed now is detailed and ambitious preparation.”
Note to editor:
The Joint Committee includes eight TDs and six Senators representing all of the major parties in Leinster House, as well as independent voices. It is chaired by Fergal O’Dowd of Fine Gael. It’s report makes for remarkable reading.
If you want to read the Joint Committee report it is available here:
Watch Seanadóir Rose Conway Walsh talk about the report here: https://www.facebook.com/reel/873249191346812
