Mary Lou McDonald exclusive: We are on the final length of our journey to unity

“The PM needs to be true to the obligation & commitment to unity referendums in the Good Friday Agreement.”

Sinn Féin’s fringe event at this year’s Labour Party conference, From Peace to Unity: A New Chapter in British–Irish Relations, was addressed by their President Mary Lou McDonald- you can read her remarks in full below.

A chairde,

I wish to thank you for coming along this evening to the annual Sinn Féin event here at the British Labour Party Conference.

It is great to see so many familiar faces, but also many new people in attendance and I welcome you all – tá fáilte mhór romhaibh uilig.

I look like to also thank Gary Gibbon, Channel 4 Political Editor, who joins us for this event and look forward to our discussion following my remarks.

There are two years in the last three decades that call particular attention in the Irish story.

For very different reasons.

1998 was the year when the people of Ireland, North and South, endorsed the Good Friday Agreement. This was an historic vote for peace, for progress, and for a new beginning.

2016 was the year when the people of the North voted to remain in the European Union with the rest of Ireland and rejected Brexit.

Yet the British government chose to ignore the clear democratic will of the people and without consent forcibly removed the North from the EU in January 2020.

In both referenda, large numbers of unionist and Protestant citizens voted for peace, for progress, for a future of relationships across Ireland and Europe.

This tells us something important – that they, too, see the value in being part of a wider set of relationships.

The Good Friday Agreement promised and delivered unprecedented change. It brought an end to conflict, delivered peace and transformed Ireland. It changed the relationship between Ireland and Britain.

Brexit promised chaos. And it delivered chaos.

It threatened the peace process. It damaged economies. But because of the combined efforts of Irish political opinion, the European Union and successive U.S. administrations, that damage was contained.

A hard border on the island of Ireland was prevented.

Working together in the national interest parties secured recognition of Ireland as a special case – that our peace, our agreements, our interests could not be sacrificed to a Tory obsession with a hard Brexit.

In 2017 the EU Council made it clear – if and when the people of Ireland North and South vote for reunification – as provided for in the Good Friday Agreement – the North will automatically rejoin the European Union as part of a united Ireland.

Both the Good Friday Agreement and the Brexit negotiations confronted a single great injustice – the partition of our country.

Partition was forced on the Irish people against our will. We are still working to unwind the grave damage it has done.

In 1918, the vast majority voted for Irish independence. The British government’s response was partition and armed suppression.

Partition was imposed to protect privilege. Establishing in the North a regime built and sustained on discrimination and oppression.

Partition denied the people of Ireland our right to self-determination.

Partition disrupted everything. Disrupting the natural circuits of commerce and day-to-day life.

It denied the people of Ireland our right to national self-determination.

The North – once the most dynamic and industrialised region on the island – is today its weakest.

From being a powerhouse before partition, it now trails the South in every measure of economic success and quality of life.

Labour productivity in the South is more than two and a half times higher than in the North. Gross National Income in the South is 57% higher than GDP in the North. Wages are 36% higher.

However, the potential of the North as part of the all-island economy is extraordinary.

Cross-border trade has grown from less than £2 billion in 1998 to £12.4 billion annually today.

Belfast is home to the island’s only large-scale, deep-water port – critical for offshore renewable energy.

Mid Ulster is a hub of indigenous manufacturing and engineering exporting globally.

Creative industries have gone from strength to strength, building on the success of Game of Thrones.

The fintech and cybersecurity sectors are fast gaining global recognition.

There are world-class universities, teacher training colleges, researchers, and a young, ambitious workforce.

A vibrant cultural heritage, a thriving tourism sector, and of course great poets, athletes, and artists.

The Irish language is thriving. Our people are basking in a modern-day Gaelic revival, joyfully confident in their Irishness.

Partition carries a heavy economic price.

Austerity policies, even under a Labour government, have profoundly damaged public services.

Appeals to the Treasury to fund the North properly fall on death ears.

The North is a place apart. And so, we have to battle for delivery, for funds and for basic infrastructure.

Casement Park is a case in point.

This landmark project, long overdue must be delivered.

We need transformation, not more British Government austerity.

The Good Friday Agreement was historic. For the first time since partition the British government was forced to acknowledge the cause of conflict.

It repealed the Government of Ireland Act which partitioned our country.

It acknowledged the right of the Irish people to decide our future, free from British interference.

The agreement states, and I quote: “for the people of the island of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively and without external impediment, to exercise their right of self-determination…”

New institutions were established – North-South, East-West, All-Ireland – giving expression to the principle that our island is best governed together, by the people who live there.

The Agreement was achieved under a British Labour government.

But since 1998 successive British governments have failed to implement in full the Good Friday Agreement.

British Prime Ministers raising obstacles to Unity Referendums flies in the face of the spirit of progress that made history in 1998.

We are just over two years away from the 30th anniversary of the Agreement.

This is a milestone moment to shape our future. To make good the promise of Good Friday.

The Prime Minister needs to be true to the obligation and commitment to unity referendums in the Good Friday Agreement.

The referendums need to be held by the end of this decade.

The Unity conversation is live- it’s happening in real time.

The Irish government has a constitutional duty to champion the reunification of our country. It is now time to prepare for reunification. To convene a Citizens’ Assembly. To bring people into this process and together build a new future.

The Sinn Féin Commission on the Future of Ireland is engaging with citizens from all political standpoints and none and the issue of a new Ireland is now part of the daily debate.

I acknowledge the work being done by other parties also, including the SDLP’s New Ireland Commission, the independent academic research by the ARINS project, DCU, Royal Irish Academy, University of Notre Dame, Professors Colin Harvey, John Doyle and Brendan O’Leary, Ireland’s Future, Gaels le Chéile and others.

The people will elect a new Uachtarán na hÉireann – a new President of Ireland. Sinn Féin is supporting the independent candidate, Catherine Connolly.

A new Ireland – a United Ireland is already a central feature of the campaign.

I believe our next Uachtarán na hÉireann will hold Office during the period when these referendums take place, and our transition from Partition to Unity becomes a new reality.

Leadership and focus is required to establish a new relationship between Britain and a new Ireland as a free, united nation.

Part of this relationship will be formed by how we deal with the legacy of the past. Any new legislation from the British Government must be grounded in human rights. It must command the confidence of victims and survivors and their families. Providing amnesty or protection for British combatants suspected of criminal acts, including murder, during the conflict runs contrary to that aim.

The public inquiry into the murder of Sean Brown must go ahead without delay.

I also want to make clear that any proposal to impose a mandatory British ID card is misguided, unacceptable and clearly ludicrous.

Once again, the British government treats the North of Ireland as an afterthought — ignoring both rights and political realities. Irish citizens’ rights are protected under the Good Friday Agreement. Any attempt to undermine these rights is totally unacceptable. 

In March this year Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Taoiseach Micheál Martin established a ‘UK-Ireland 2030 Steering Group’ led by the Cabinet Office and Department of the Taoiseach.

A border poll and referendums on Irish reunification must be central to this work.

Understanding the implications of constitutional change, transition and reconfigured governance arrangements across both islands requires engagement now.

The British Prime Minister and An Taoiseach must lead this historic work.

No party owns this process. Not Sinn Féin. Not the two governments. But all of us have obligations, responsibilities, and all of us must lead.

Engaging the political parties, civic society, key sectors including industry, unions, and wider civil society is vital.

People must be consulted, and the two governments must now set out proposals for delivering legal, fair and decisive referendums and a negotiated timeframe by the end of this decade.

Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said in Belfast back in June: “Building a new and united Ireland is the next step in our national journey.” He is right. Demographics and opinion polls are moving in that direction. The responsibility of leadership is to prepare.

Unionist identity must be respected.

A new Ireland must be shared, inclusive, and welcoming.

My home place is their home place also.

When First Minister Michelle O’Neill took up Office, the first republican to do so, she pledged co-operation and a genuine honest effort with all those across our communities, who are British and who cherish their British identity.

Sinn Féin will continue to engage positively with all of those who have a different vision of our future.

Friends, the Labour government played a central role in securing peace in 1998. The journey now is moving from peace to unity, through a peaceful, organised and planned transition, opening a new chapter in British-Irish relations.

I want us meet that with courage, with generosity of spirit, and with grace, imagination and ambition.

Finally, can I welcome the decision of the British government to recognise the state of Palestine.

However, the genocide in Gaza, and the occupation continue. And the world watches on.

The failure of the British government and of other European governments to take a stand against the actions of the Israeli state, to afford impunity to Netanyahu’s regime in the face of genocidal slaughter, continuing to arm this slaughter is abhorrent, is shameful, and unacceptable.

We again call for an end to the genocide, an end to the occupation, an end to apartheid and for Palestinian freedom. For Palestinian lives, and life, to be protected by the international community.

My colleague, Senator Chris Andrews joins other brave activists on the Global Sumud flotilla. I salute him, and them.

Friends, we live in historic times. In Ireland, we are walking the final length of our journey to reunification and full nationhood. Nation-building is about building a home for all our people exceeding our own expectations to reach the further shore. The future is bright. The opportunity immense. We now push forward with confidence and optimism to a better tomorrow.

Go raibh míle maith agaibh.

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• Mary Lou McDonald is President of Sinn Féin and a TD for Dublin Central- you can follow her on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram and TikTok.
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