I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time". Tonight, the Dáil can take a major step towards Irish unity in our time. Tonight, we can begin the final length of our national journey from peace to reunification. The Bill that Sinn Féin brings before the Dáil this evening is historic. If passed, it would be the first ever legislation directing the Government to start planning and preparing for a united Ireland. The Bill compels the Taoiseach to produce and publish a Government Green Paper and set out its vision for reunification. It also establishes a first ever citizens' assembly - all-island - on Irish unity to consider those proposals. It would put the work of uniting Ireland at the very heart of the Government and the Oireachtas. The story of our nation is the story of challenge, adversity and struggle, but more importantly, it is a story of perseverance, hope and overcoming incredible odds. It is a story of enduring belief that a better future for Ireland is possible. That spirit is best reflected in the achievement of the historic Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Twenty-eight years ago, leaders from all communities came together and made peace. The agreement brought conflict in Ireland to an end, and to this day it stands as a historic international success story in peace building. It created space to acknowledge the hurt, pain and loss on all sides, to build a bridge of understanding, a pathway for healing and a process for real reconciliation. The Good Friday Agreement was about institutional arrangements and human rights standards. However, at the very core of the agreement is the provision of the right of all the people, North and South, to determine Ireland's future at the ballot box by way of referendums. We now need to do the work necessary to plan and prepare for the people to vote on a united Ireland. We are nearly 30 years on from the Good Friday Agreement. There has been nothing rushed, hasty or pre-emptive about this process. Over the past three decades, we have had big challenges. We have had disagreements and political confrontations. We have had highs and lows. Of that, there is no doubt. However, the peace is secure. It is robust, resilient and commands wide support. It is now time to write the next chapter, the chapter of reunification. We in Sinn Féin believe in partnership and collaboration. Michelle O'Neill leads the Executive with the determination to make politics work for everyone. Above all else, we believe that we must build Ireland's future together. Reunification is, of course, about removing the Border, but not only that, it is about so much more. It is about seizing the moment and opportunity to create a new deal for the people of Ireland and every person on this island; a new deal for Protestants and unionists which protects their British identity and replaces the bad treatment and abandonment by Westminster with real ownership, inclusion and respect as a full citizen to have a real stake in the future where that British identity is secure; a new deal to break with the failures of the past and build a new republic that works for everyone where prosperity and a secure life is open to every citizen. This new deal of reunification is about building a better life for workers and families right across Ireland. It is about harnessing the resources of the entire nation to build a better future but also to meet the big challenges of today, and to ensure that every citizen and family have a place to call home. It is the best way - the only way - to deliver an all-Ireland public universal health service. Through unity, we can build the best education and childcare systems for every child and young person. We can strengthen our public services, tackle poverty and build a fair society in which disabled people and those who care are supported to live full lives as equal citizens. Reunification provides us with the opportunity to use the engine of the all-island economy to create jobs, drive investment and secure a successful and dynamic economic future with world-class infrastructure. Irish unity very importantly also represents a new deal for our young people. Too many generations have lived their lives in a partitioned Ireland. It has held back young people. It has curtailed potential and ambition. It has denied them their right to live in a unified nation with access to all the possibilities that this can offer. We say, "Enough of that." We owe it to our young people to recognise unity as the historic opportunity of this time and to seize it with both hands. Now is the time to build a hopeful future for all the young people of Ireland regardless of background, tradition, religion or identity. That is what reunification offers, but we must start the planning and preparation now. That is what this Bill seeks to stimulate and advance. Any government truly focused on a better future would positively - indeed, enthusiastically - draft and publish a Green Paper on a united Ireland, a positive vision covering all topics including public finance, taxation, public services, human rights, governance arrangements and, of course, relations between Britain and Ireland. The establishment of the citizens' assembly will be groundbreaking. It will bring together representatives from the people of Ireland from all communities because all citizens have a stake in our shared future. It will allow a debate on competing ideas and different perspectives on unity, encourage debate on the shape of the future constitutional arrangements and facilitate discussion on the financial, social, economic and political challenges and solutions. It will be a forum for real discussion on what our new united Ireland will look like. The Taoiseach's position, often stated, is that reconciliation must happen before reunification. I respectfully suggest that perspective downplays three decades of genuine reconciliation initiatives and real progress on the ground and in communities. That perspective fails to recognise that discussing and planning our future together is the very essence of reconciliation. Reunification itself is a reconciliation process. You cannot separate one from the other, no more than tell the dancer from the dance. The question is often asked, "Can we afford unity?" My answer to that is simple. We can no longer afford partition. We can no longer afford the dislocation of North from South. We cannot miss the opportunity that unity presents in terms of economic scale, development and progress, but also when it comes to the organisation of our public services. The scale of change we are witnessing demands that we prepare for constitutional change and reunification. Britain's union is now under unprecedented pressure. We now have pro-independence First Ministers in the North of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, all of whom see a future beyond Westminster and the post-Brexit chaos that has dominated British politics, or more accurately English politics, for a decade now; all who want a future where the people of our nations choose our destinies. That is our common cause. For us in Ireland, that means working towards and securing a date for referendums on Irish unity. The Government really should not stand against this tide of change; it should embrace it. In fact, it should lead it. Good government, after all, is about recognising threats and weaknesses but more importantly identifying opportunities and grasping them. We need to recognise that a united Ireland is the greatest opportunity of our generation. It is the big idea for our future. The question is not if there will be unity referendums but when those referendums will be held. The far bigger question is whether we will be prepared for an informed, inclusive process of transition. I want a process that is peaceful and orderly and this demands that preparations start now and that is what our legislation is about. Is í aontacht na hÉireann an deis is mó atá ag ár nglúin. Is í an fhís mhór í do thodhchaí ár dtíre. Is ré nua í d’oibrithe agus teaghlaigh ar fud na hÉireann. Ní mór dúinn an deis a thapú go huile is go hiomlán. Ní mór dúinn pleanáil agus ullmhú do reifreann aontachta. Is é anois an t-am. Taispeánaimis misneach, fís agus diongbháilteacht chun deireadh a chur leis an deighilt agus Poblacht nua a thógáil do chách. Partition failed the people of Ireland. We all have our responsibility now to plan and prepare for unity and to lay the foundations of the nation we wish to pass on to our children and they to theirs, so let us not miss this moment. Let us work to ensure the Government of Ireland and this Oireachtas become the lead driver of reunification in our time. Let us now walk this length of the journey with confidence, hope and real purpose. That is what this legislation is about. It is with this unwavering belief in Ireland and in all of our people that I commend this legislation to the Dáil.

Sentiment score: 0.21

Jesus Christ.

Sentiment score: 0.00

I thank people for contributing to this very important debate on this very important landmark piece of legislation that, in essence, is very simple. This is simply about planning, preparation and dialogue in that very spirit of respect and inclusivity that has echoed across the Chamber this evening. That is it. That is all we are asking for. We are not asking for a predetermined outcome to the referendum or to rush headlong into anything. God knows that is not going to happen here. We are simply asking that we do the work that needs to be done in an intelligent, informed and respectful way. I cannot countenance the alternative and I do not get the idea that we are for Irish unity but absolutely against planning for the conversation and process for orderly, democratic and peaceful transition that is required. That makes no sense at all. The case for this legislation has convincingly and repeatedly been made by Sinn Féin Deputies but also by Deputies across the benches, and convincingly so. However, we have not had a convincing response from Government. Inertia is not an answer. A long, meandering series of rhetorical statements and self-aggrandisement and God forbid, dining out on the heroism and courage of former generations, including family members, is not a thing. That does not cut the muster. I am a mother of adult children. I want to record in the House, because I think they are very reflective of their generation, what they hear and what they will see this evening. They will see the Irish establishment in all of its pomp and limited sense of the world standing on the ground that is comfortable for it, and that it knows and controls. They will see this - driven by Micheál Martin, of that there is no doubt - as a direct pushback against them. That generation is hungry. It has an appetite for change, that can see the next horizon and opportunity and that hears the same old tired, jaded rhetoric as blah blah blah and all the reasons we cannot have the Republic and have a new Ireland and all the reasons we will not trust and respect our people - nationalist, republican, loyalist and unionist, Catholic and Protestant people, people of all faiths and none. Catholic, Protestant and dissenter, is that not how Wolfe Tone put it? I say to those on the Government benches that they are grossly and vastly underestimating where people are at on this issue. In one day alone last weekend, we gathered 30,000 postcards addressed to the Taoiseach asking that this legislation by supported. That was on one single day. To anyone who believes this issue will go away, it is not going away. We will be back with this legislation because we know preparation is the only way forward - the Green paper and citizens' assembly. We make no pretence that is the totality of the work that needs to be done. Far from it. The Oireachtas committees need to continue and other platforms of dialogue and expertise need to be established. These are the basics. This is the most basic ask and request. For Fianna Fáil, in its centenary year, to push this back is a matter of wonder to me - the party of Dan Breen and Seán Treacy. It seems the party cannot see the wood for the trees. It is the party that refuses to lay that preparatory ground for that peaceful, orderly, democratic transition to a united Ireland. Remarks have been made about arbitrary deadlines and all the rest. After all the discussion, dialogue and negotiations - the long nights into the wee hours of the morning and beyond - in the end agreement was found precisely because structure, shape and deadlines were applied. Had we meandered and looked to the Irish establishment to rehearse ad nauseam all the reasons we cannot and all the things we cannot have, we would not have made the journey thus far. The Government's response is inadequate. I appeal to people to accept this modest proposal at this important moment in our journey to the peaceful reunification of our country. There is no avoiding the work that needs to be done; it needs to be done now.

Sentiment score: 0.12