The British government needs to get involved in the conversation about constitutional change in Ireland

» Declan Kearney

If this new Labour government is truly committed to full democratic implementation of the GFA, it should get involved in the conversation, and make a positive start by setting a date for a unity referendum.

Four weeks have passed since the Westminster General Election. 

For the third consecutive election between 2022 and 2024, Sinn Féin emerged as the largest political party in the north of Ireland; now leading decisively in representative terms and share of the vote, within the regional Assembly, local government and elected MPs.  

The seven Sinn Féin MPs elected constitute the largest MP group of any party in the north with a 4.2% increase in overall share of the vote.

 Sinn Féin’s overall position as the largest party in Ireland was consolidated. 

Our MPs abstain from the Westminster parliament because of its ongoing illegitimate claim of jurisdiction over this part of Ireland. That political position was strongly endorsed by 27% of the electorate.

The reality is that the British parliamentary system has no interest in the north. That is illustrated in the legacy of successive Tory administrations which has resulted in austerity, systemic underfunding of public services, the catastrophe of Brexit, and, the most recent ‘Amnesty Law’. 

The election of the new Labour administration provides an opportunity to fundamentally change British government policy towards Ireland, and to reset relations between Britain and Ireland. 

The realignments created by this election reflect a popular demand within the northern electorate for something better, as well as a growing view that the economic and social progress required to deliver on the priorities of local workers and families will only be introduced beyond the limits of partition, and through a process of constitutional change.  

In the days following the election, both domestic and international media commented extensively on how the strengthened Sinn Féin vote would add political impetus to the desire for Irish unity.

Support for a united Ireland is now stronger than ever before. This momentum has been driven by Brexit, the indifference of English politicians, and, the economic and political failure of partition. 

There is now both a widely shared curiosity, and a strong belief, in how Irish unity can unlock the potential to deliver increased economic prosperity, higher quality public services, political stability, and a rights-based constitutional settlement. 

The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) provides the mechanism to allow for the exercise of self-determination through concurrent unity referenda, and enable a planned transition to reunification.

To date, British governments have refused to define the criteria against which the date for calling such referenda can be set.

Yet electoral shifts, demographic changes, political realignments, opinion polling north and south, and huge bodies of research by some of Ireland’s most prominent academics, all point to the need for this British government to begin thinking and acting differently about the strategic issue of Irish self-determination. 

The persistent refusal to do so is no longer sustainable. 

By contrast, an emerging consensus now exists on the need to plan and prepare for constitutional change among the majority of political parties on the island of Ireland (including the three coalition government parties in Dublin).

Last month, an all-party committee of the Oireachtas, the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the GFA, published a landmark report: ‘Perspectives on Constitutional Change: Finance and Economics’. 

It sets out 15 recommendations which include, that a whole of government approach must be adopted to plan and prepare for the potential of constitutional change. 

It further calls for the government in Dublin to publish a Green Paper setting out a vision for a united Ireland. 

Notably it recommends that an Oireachtas Committee should be mandated, adequately resourced and dedicated to the preparation for a united Ireland. The committee recommends preparation to begin immediately.

The report concludes, ‘that there is a compelling case to begin planning for the possibility of constitutional change… we also need a revitalised approach to the implementation of the GFA… The committee calls for renewed efforts by both governments as co-guarantors and by the representatives of Northern Ireland to recommit to full implementation of the GFA across all three strands’. 

This report is unprecedented, but not surprising. Constitutional change is now on the political horizon. Of course that does not mean it is inevitable, however the broad consensus contained in the Joint Committee report mirrors the depth and strength of the popular discussion on Irish unity, and the processes required to bring it about.

In October 2022 Ireland’s Future, the civic organisation lobbying and advocating for Irish unity, hosted a large public conference at the 3Arena in Dublin. On that occasion, it successfully brought the ten main Irish political parties across the national/democratic political spectrum under the one roof to discuss Irish unity.

Two months ago, and shortly before the Westminster election, Ireland’s Future organised a similar event in the Odyssey Arena, Belfast. This time the representatives from the same political parties were joined by the Alliance Party.

The participation of all main parties organised across Ireland with the exception of the three unionist parties, underscores the centrality of constitutional change within the Irish national discourse.

Two hugely important individual interventions were made at the Odyssey conference, by Jarlath Burns, President of the Gaelic Athletic Association, and former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD. 

Burns urged the need to foster conversations about Ireland’s constitutional future, while Varadkar asserted that it was now time for the Irish government to treat Irish unity as a political objective, and no longer simply as an aspiration. 

Leo Varadkar’s comments are very significant and were clearly intended by him to be interpreted in that way.

Ireland’s Future, and others, including Professor Brendan O'Leary, have produced detailed proposals on the setting of a date for unity referenda by 2030, and regarding the type of transitional process to successfully deliver a new constitutional settlement for Ireland. 

Discussion on reunification has also become mainstreamed within the Irish labour movement since the Irish Congress of Trade Unions Biennial Delegate Conference in October 2021. 

Trade union leaders including Owen Reidy, Gerry Murphy and others, and, Britain and USA-based labour movement figures like Mick Lynch and Terry O’Sullivan, have all thoughtfully addressed future transitional political arrangements with reference to workers’ rights. 

Greater numbers of diverse voices from within the alternative Protestant and civic unionist traditions are now being heard. 

Figures such as Denzil McDaniels, Claire Mitchell, Karen Sethuraman, and Davy Adams have broadened out the scope of discussion by emphasising that the values and identities of protestants and unionists must be integral to the ongoing process of change.

The prospect of Irish unity and how it should be achieved has moved centre stage. 

The people of Ireland have been denied their right to self-determination for over 100 years. That democratic option was finally recognised in 1998 through its inclusion as a provision of the GFA. 

Irish reunification and a new national constitutional settlement is both a reasonable and legitimate objective. 

It is an idea whose time has finally come.

This new British government needs to engage with, and embrace these realities.  

It should choose to make positive history by becoming a partner in managing progressive change in Ireland, and resolve to work in partnership with the Irish government, and wider democratic opinion, to open a path to reunification and reconciliation. 

Twenty seven years ago, a new Labour government played a crucial role in helping secure Ireland’s peace settlement, and embedding the peace process.

Both the British and Irish governments share a joint responsibility to plan and prepare for constitutional change and to design an orderly transition to new national and democratic and constitutional arrangements in Ireland. 

An agreed, properly resourced inter-governmental road map is required. 

That means formal discussions must commence between the incumbent British and Irish administrations.  

Failure to prepare at this time is to prepare for failure. That would be an act of gross political and diplomatic folly. 

The conversation about constitutional change is already happening.

If this new Labour government is truly committed to full democratic implementation of the GFA, it should get involved in the conversation, and make a positive start by setting a date for a unity referendum.