Dáil debates

Wednesday, 24 February 2021

New Decade, New Approach Agreement: Statements

 

2:50 pm

Photo of John BradyJohn Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

In this moment, we have the vantage point of being able to look back at a century of partition and all it has entailed. We look back at a linear progression of misery, despair and hopelessness, pitted with milestones of suffering. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Ballymurphy massacre and the introduction of internment.

The Good Friday Agreement provided us with a new point of departure, a moment that allowed for an historical pivot which faced our island into a future that allowed us to garner hope. We discuss today the progress made under a new mechanism designed to provide fresh momentum towards a just and lasting society. It is a journey that I and increasing numbers of people North and South of the Border believe will culminate in unification. There is no doubt that there are challenges ahead. There will be disagreements and, in all likelihood, heated words but that is politics. That, indeed, is progress. The momentum and consensus on this island around addressing the legacy of our collective past and recognising and celebrating our respective cultures on a basis of equality and the developing discourse on Irish unity will not be abated or derailed by Tory indifference or the small minority of people in the North who, operating from a place of fear, seek to hold on to a past that has dissipated with progress.

The onus is now on the British Government to reciprocate by simply living up to its obligations and promises and delivering on its undertakings. This includes meeting its financial commitments and honouring and implementing commitments in New Decade, New Approach and the Stormont House Agreement and on dealing with the legacy of the past. We also need to see legislation enacted to ensure respect and protection for the Irish language and identity.

If Brexit and Covid-19, with their devastating financial, social and health impacts, have taught us anything in the past year, it is that we need an all-Ireland approach to health, the economy and infrastructure. The Good Friday Agreement set out the context for a referendum on unity. The agreement asserts that it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone to shape our future and exercise our right of self-determination on the basis of consent freely and concurrently given North and South. A new and united Ireland must be a place for all, whether one is Irish, British, both or neither. The orange and British identity is important to a section of the community who share this island. It is, therefore, important to us all. The Government has a duty and constitutional obligation to prepare for unity and the referendum on unity. Our future as an island lies together.

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