Top Issue 1-2024

23 January 2013

Resize: A A A Print

Video: Sinn Féin Border Poll launch in Dublin – 'Let the People Decide'

GFASINN FÉIN President Gerry Adams TD, speaking on Saturday at a conference in Dublin, calls for a border poll to be held under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement in the next term of the Assembly and Oireachtas.

In a wide ranging speech the Sinn Féin leader says:

  • The Good Friday Agreement states, “that it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively and without external impediment, to exercise their right of self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given, North and South, to bring about a united Ireland, if that is their wish, accepting that this right must be achieved and exercised with and subject to the agreement and consent of a majority of the people” in the north of Ireland.

  • The Good Friday Agreement also commits the British government to holding a border poll and London has undertaken to legislate for a united Ireland if a majority of those voting express a wish that the north should cease to be part of the British union.

  • It is time for the governments to set a date.

  • We will be looking for the referendum in the next term of the Assembly and Oireachtas.

The Sinn Fein leader addresses the issue of political geography of the North.

  • The northern state was gerrymandered to allow for a permanent unionist two thirds majority.

  • But the census figures published in December reveal that only 40% of citizens there stated that they had a British only identity.

  • A quarter (25%) stated that they had an Irish only identity and just over a fifth (21%) had a Northern Irish only identity.

  • That’s 46% of citizens consciously opting for some form of Irish only identity.

  • The political and demographic landscape in the north is changing.  

Commenting on the issue of identities and traditions Gerry Adams says:

  • We want to hear what unionists have to say.

  • We must use every opportunity to engage in dialogue at a personal level as well as in more formal ways.

  • Protect all citizens, including rigorously and unequivocally seeking to protect all identities and traditions.

  • Like the Good Friday Agreement we are for the “principles of full respect for, and equality of, civil, political, social and cultural rights, of freedom from discrimination for all citizens, and of parity of esteem and of just and equal treatment for the identity, ethos, and aspirations of both communities …”

  • The Agreement also guarantees in the event of a united Ireland that the right of those who define themselves as British will not be affected.

Follow us on Facebook

An Phoblacht on Twitter


An Phoblacht
44 Parnell Sq.
Dublin 1
Ireland