UNITING IRELAND CAMPAIGN | USA AND CANADA RAISE MOTIONS

City of Portland, Oregon, joins chorus for ‘Uniting Ireland’

Sinn Féin’s Rita O’Hare with some of the Portland, Oregon, group at the An Gorta Mor memorial

THE City of Portland, Oregon, celebrated St Patrick’s Day by issuing a proclamation calling for the Irish and British governments to hold a referendum on reunification of the entire Island of Ireland, pursuant to the Good Friday Agreement.
Declaring that “it is for the people of Ireland alone, without external impediment, to exercise their right to self-determination and to bring about a united Ireland if that is their wish”, the Proclamation noted that the Good Friday Agreement includes provisions for achieving a united Ireland through democratic and peaceful means.
Portland’s Ancient Order of Hibernians played a pivotal role in the proclamation’s adoption. Fittingly, the proclamation emphasises the great contribution of Irish immigrants to Portland, the state of Oregon and the United States.
Portland now joins a growing list of US cities, counties, states and prominent organisations calling for Irish reunification by democratic, electoral means, as provided for under the Good Friday Agreement.
Such resolutions have been adopted by the cities of Boston; Lawrence, Lynn, New Bedford, Fall River (all in Massachusetts) and by the Massachusetts State Senate and Assembly; Albany; Buffalo and Rockland County in New York as well as by the New York State Senate; the New Jersey General Assembly and several municipalities in New Jersey; San Francisco; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Syracuse; Cleveland; St Louis City, Missouri; Allegheny in Pennsylvania; California Democratic Party; the San Francisco Labor Council and the Labor Councils of Mercier, Middlesex and Monmouth of New Jersey.
The campaign for Irish reunification is also gaining ground in Canada led by Friends of Sinn Féin Canada. Many prominent Canadians, including senior politicians from a broad political spectrum and the former Solicitor General of Canada, have signed the Irish Unity Pledge, adding to the momentum generated by all these efforts.
“Ireland’s story did not end with the Good Friday Peace Agreement,” said David O’Longaigh, of Portland’s Ancient Order of Hibernians. “It’s still being written and each of these resolutions take us closer to the final chapter, a united Ireland.”

In Canada, the following groups are working in support of the Irish Unity Pledge:
•    Toronto Committee for Irish Unity (Toronto, Ontario)
•    Coalition for Peace in Ireland (Montreal, Quebec)
•    Ottawa Group for the Irish Unity Pledge (Ottawa, Ontario)
•    Durham Committee for Irish Unity (Durham, Ontario)
•    Emerald Isle Social Club (Brampton, Ontario)
•    Friends of Sinn Féin (Canada) Inc.

• A full list of resolutions passed are available on the ‘Uniting Ireland’ website www.unitingireland.ie