When the votes were counted on
Saturday the result of the referendum on the eighth amendment was decisive. Two
thirds of the electorate voted YES. The onus is now on the Taoiseach
and his government to produce the necessary legislation to give effect to the
will of the people. It will also be for the legislators in the Dáil and Seanad,
including Sinn Féin’s team of TDs and Seanadóirí, to ensure that the new
legislation reflects the outcome of the referendum and that it passes speedily
into law.
During the campaign I canvassed
almost every day in my constituency of Louth and East Meath. By last week my
sense from all the doors I had knocked and the people I had met was that the
YES vote would succeed. However, the overwhelming nature of the final result
was a pleasant surprise. Critical to its success, and to motivating people to
vote and/or to change their minds, were the many personal stories that women
courageously stepped forward to tell. Their deeply personal accounts of crisis
pregnancies, of traumatic journeys to Britain, and of tough decisions they had
to make when faced with the distressing news of a fatal foetal abnormality,
undoubtedly helped to shape public opinion. We must not forget those stories in
the months ahead.
Last Friday’s referendum result is
also further evidence of a significant societal shift on this island. Three
years ago 62% of voters in the south backed marriage equality for our LGBT
citizens.
These two referendums were remarkable
and genuinely transformative moments in recent Irish history. But they weren’t
alone. Last week also marked 20 years from the historic referendum in May 1998
which saw the people of the island of Ireland convincingly vote in support of
the Good Friday Agreement. That referendum gave democratic validation to the
Agreement’s emphasis on equality, parity of esteem and human rights for every
citizen living on this island. Since then there has been enormous progress. But
there are important matters that still remain unresolved.
The marriage equality and repeal the
eighth referendums have also brought into sharp focus those areas of civil
rights and human rights where there has been insufficent progress in the north.
In that part of the island the opposition of the unionist leadership and the
refusal of the British government to honour its obligations means that there is
no marriage equality; there is no Irish language act; there is no equality and
parity of esteem for citizens, especially for women facing crisis pregnancies.
Changing this will be challenging
given the approach of some Unionist political leaders. However, the reality is
that the marriage equality, and repeal the eighth referendums reflect a genuine
groundswell desire by most citizens for positive change within Irish society.
That means, in the first instance, that those rights which have been won in
recent years in one part of the island need to be extended into the other. In
the absence of an Assembly these issues are the responsibility of the British
government.
So too is the setting of a date for a
referendum on Irish unity. The call for this has increased, especially in the
last year. The population and political demographic changes that have taken
place in the last two decades and which are reflected in the most recent
Assembly and Westminster elections, make a referendum on Irish unity achievable
in the next five years.
The priority for Irish republicans is
to win that referendum. To achieve this, we need to win over some of those who
currently oppose Irish unity. That means addressing those issues which are of
specific concern to them. It isn’t enough to argue, however convincingly in the
light of Brexit, that the island of Ireland will prosper best as a single
economic unit; or that the standard of living will be better; or that the Good
Friday Agreement, in the event of Irish reunification, specifically protects
the right of northern citizens to be British citizens also. Republicans have to
go beyond that.
Republicans have to articulate our
vision of a new Ireland as a shared Ireland. An inclusive democracy. A place in
which social, cultural and economic rights guarantee real equality for every
citizen. A new Ireland which tackles poverty and homelessness, provides a
decent health and education service for all, and respects and guarantees the
full rights and entitlements of every citizen, whether they identify as Irish
or as British.
In particular
republicans need to avail of every opportunity to engage with unionists. To
speak to unionists, but, most especially to listen to unionists. We must
also accept that many unionists hold to their sense of unionism and of
Britishness as strongly as republicans hold to our sense of who we are, and to
our Irishness.
This
shouldn’t be a zero sum game in which there are winners and losers. A new,
shared Ireland has to be a win for everyone. So, republicans need to emphasize
those aspects of our shared experience which are positive and which embrace
those areas of agreement and of co-operation; of good neighbourliness and the
common good. Key to this is a process of reconciliation.
So, let the
conversation about a new, shared Ireland continue. And as we prepare for the
referendum on Irish unity let us not forget that this time next year there will
be a referendum on extending the vote in Presidential elections to citizens in
the north and in the diaspora. That will be another stage in the process of transforming
Irish society.
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