Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is no more obvious than in this institution. Is a united Ireland something that cannot be named? Is it something for which we do not have a responsibility? Are we always to behave like Slattery's mounted foot and rubbish Sinn Féin's proposition, only to go for it later? This is bigger than all of us. We should become persuaders for Irish unity because we will not have a workers' republic, nor any kind of real republic, without the unity of the people of this island. That is the Connolly proposition for those from the William Walker school of gas and water works socialism.

We need to have an inclusive discussion in this House about new relationships. The Taoiseach talks about people joining this State. Does he think the people in the North are mad? We want a new Ireland but look at our health services. Why would any thinking person, in the Unionist community or otherwise, want to leave the public health service they have, for all its faults, to come to what we have here? The same applies to all the other social and economic issues, such as homelessness, which press down upon us. Partition created two conservative states on this island and while the focus has historically been on the Orange state, this one, as a result of the counter-revolution, was just as bad. Let us reimagine Ireland not just as one part joining the other part and not as a 32-county free state, but as a new imagined Ireland to which the founders of the Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil parties, as well as the party of which I am part, subscribed. I say this provocatively because we need to be a bit provocative in looking at these matters. We also need to expedite funding issues in this space. It is not good enough that the failure of the British to start negotiations should put so many people under so much pressure, whether it is in respect of the Narrow Water bridge project, some other project in the Border corridor where capital investment is needed, or people on the PEACE or INTERREG programmes. We need to push all of those ahead but, most important, we need to set aside time in this Dáil to discuss these matters in a reasonable and rational but robust way.

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