Donna McGettigan (Clare, Sinn Fein)

We have a great opportunity to reunite our county and our people, and to have engagement through a citizens' assembly with all sectors of our island. It is long past time for the Irish Government to prepare for the reunification of our country. It is particularly important that a citizens' assembly is established to allow anyone, North or South, to have their say and provide their input to the process. Many families in my hometown of Shannon, including my own, are originally from the North. Many did not have a choice but to move. While we got a welcome, we also faced being told as young children to go back where we belonged, but where did we belong? Did we not belong in Ireland? I was born in Belfast; I am Irish. I hold an Irish passport, so where do I belong? I belong in a country that should be reunited. For many families, we may have separate currencies and separate healthcare and education, but in our hearts, we are together. We play the same sports and listen to the same music. All of us just want to belong.

The Good Friday Agreement allows for a referendum on a reunited Ireland but that will not come about automatically. We all need to play our part in preparing for a unity referendum. Irish unity is now part of the national discourse. People from all walks of life can see that our shared future will be built together. Ní neart go cur le chéile. I look forward to my family and others living in the same country. We are calling on the Government to establish a citizens' assembly as a forum for informed discussion and an Oireachtas joint committee on Irish unity to facilitate the necessary preparations for unity because we need to listen to all voices and to learn from each other about how we can build an Ireland for all. For now, there are not even criteria set out by which we can call a referendum and the Irish Government needs to push on this. Both governments need to understand that the signing of the Good Friday Agreement was not the end of the process but the beginning. We need now to build on the peace we have achieved and work to achieve the long-term future by planning for the reuniting of our country.

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