Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I commend Mr. Adams on his presentation and on his decades of work to achieve peace. It is a peace that has lasted and brought untold fortune to Irish people and British people alike. We remember our friend and comrade Martin McGuinness who walked that journey with Mr. Adams. I will start with a question. Mr. Adams included a quote from Martin McGuinness in his presentation, “I am so confident in my Irishness that I have no desire to chip away at the Britishness of my neighbours”. Mr. Adams also said, with regard to unionists:

The protections in the Good Friday Agreement are their protections also. This is their land. This is their home place.

Does Mr. Adams think the unionist people are hearing what nationalists are saying to them about guaranteeing their cultural and identity rights in a new united Ireland? The point is often made that civic unionism is often far ahead of political unionism in having conversations about the future of this country. Does Mr. Adams agree with that?