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Last week,
for only the second time since the foundation of the northern state there was a
significant cross community vote on an issue of political importance. The first
time was in 1998 when the people of the north - Unionists, republicans, and nationalists voted for
the Good Friday Agreement.
Unionists, republicans and nationalists repeated that extraordinary vote in the Brexit referendum with
an equally definitive vote to
remain within the EU.
The crisis
that the Brexit vote in Britain has caused is reverberating across these islands,
within the European Union and beyond. The divorce proceedings that Brexit has
initiated will not be straightforward. There is a huge entanglement of EU law
with British law, and this includes the north, which has to be separated out.
The EU is inextricably connected with every sector of life in the north,
including the economy, farming, tourism, the health service, climate change,
infrastructure, community supports and investment, equality and workers’ rights
law, and much, much more.
Untangling
this will be a massive undertaking.
It has also
emerged that the Assembly may have to give its legislative consent to repeal
the European Communities Act 1972 which gives domestic effect to EU law. This
too presents possibilities.
So the
constitutional lawyers and courts are likely to be busy in the time ahead as they
try to sort this particular issue out.
In one
important respect the outcome of the Brexit referendum is a vindication of Sinn
Féin’s long standing criticism of the democratic deficit at the heart of the EU
and of the two-tier nature of its structures and the social and economic
inequalities that are part of it.
In 1972, Sinn
Féin and other progressives campaigned against membership of the EEC.
Over the
decades since then, we have modified our position to one of critical
engagement. This position was formally adopted by our Ard Fheis in 1999. We
said then that we were keenly aware of the dangers for Ireland as more and more
decisions were ceded to unaccountable structures in the EU.
So, we also
set out our objectives; the reform and restructuring of the EU; the
decentralising of power; the promotion of state democracy and economic and
social justice; and the creation of a 32 county political and economic identity
within the EU.
Reform of the
EU has been necessary for decades now. The unaccountable nature of much of the
EU bureaucracy, and a decision making process that is often distant from
citizens, was part of the reason for the Brexit vote.
The treatment
of Greece and the imposition of austerity policies on that state and others,
also led to anger and frustration at the EU institutions.
The current crisis
therefore presents an opportunity to advance the reform project – to transform
the EU into something better. Irish republicans want a different kind of
European Union. A Union that is democratically accountable and transparent, and
responds to the needs and desires of its citizens - a social EU; a Union of
equals, of partnership and solidarity, in which member states, at times of
adversity, work together in the spirit of co-operation.
The current
crisis also presents a historic opportunity to end the injustice of partition
and to build a new Ireland.
The British
government has no democratic mandate to represent the views of the people of
the north in any future negotiations with the EU. Their policy has been
rejected by the people.
Citizens in
the six counties voted to remain within the EU. The British and the Irish
governments must accept that vote. It should be upheld.
Some will say
– and I heard this from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in the Dáil on Monday – that
we are bound by a so-called United Kingdom vote. No we’re not. Sinn Féin stands
by the vote of the people of the north.
We stand for
the needs of the Irish nation before those of Britain. That means that the
Irish government has to think nationally – not in 26 county terms, but for the
island of Ireland. It needs an island wide vision.
As a co-equal
guarantor of the agreement, the Irish government has a responsibility to defend
the Good Friday Agreement and its political institutions. It has to now agree
the maximum cooperation between it and the Executive and to support the right
of Ministers in the North to deal directly with the EU institutions.
The
Democratic Unionist Party should also respect the remain vote. The majority of
people, including many unionists, rejected its exit policy. The DUP should
accept this – although I’m not holding my breath.
The vote of
the Scottish people is what is now determining the political approach of the
Scottish government to the EU and to the British government. The Scottish First
Minister and her Cabinet have decided to put into action their plan to
negotiate with the EU and to prepare for a referendum on Scottish independence.
The vote in
the north is what will determine Sinn Féin’s approach. And it is this context
that Sinn Féin is calling for a referendum on Irish unity.
Inevitably
all of the usual suspects have lined up to tell us it’s the wrong time; it
can’t be won. The Irish government and Fianna Fáil are quick to talk about
respecting the rights of the people of Scotland but not those of citizens on
this island.
Irish
republicans believe that partition is at the root of the divisions that exist
between the people of the north and between the two parts of our island. The
Brexit vote has demonstrated that citizens in the north are able to step beyond
partition – to set aside sectarian politics and take decisions based on
rational argument.
I believe the
same can be achieved in any debate on Irish unity,
Moreover, we
should not lose sight of the fact that the demographics of the north have also
dramatically changed in recent years.
The north was
created on what was believed to be a permanent two thirds unionist/British
majority. But the last census figures revealed that the issue of identity is no
longer as fixed as it once was.
Only 40% of people stated that they
had a British only identity. A quarter (25%) stated that they had an Irish only identity while just
over a fifth (21%) had a Northern Irish only identity. That’s 46% of citizens
in the north identifying with some form of Irishness. And others not will to
take any position.
The people of
England and Wales have taken their decision. They are leaving the EU. If those
citizens in the north who voted to remain want to achieve that goal – if they
want to stay within the EU - it can only happen in the context of the island of
Ireland. That’s a huge challenge for all of us in the time ahead. This week we
are seeing the opening exchanges in this debate.
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