St. Columb’s student Patrick Quigley tells Seanad ‘tribal attitude’ will ‘kill the dream of unification’

Patrick Quigley, a Year 14 politics student at St. Columb’s College, made the observation during a briefing of the Seanad Public Consultation Committee on the constitutional future of the island of Ireland.

He was among a group of young people who provided their views on how a new political and constitutional dispensation might pan out.

Mr. Quigley told senators it was important those in favour of unification did not assume a united Ireland was more likely due to the results of the recent census in the north.

“The future of Ireland's youth hinges on the foundational steps being taken in this Chamber as we speak.

“I worry, however, that recent events have soured this debate. The current discourse regarding a united Ireland has been dominated by the most recent data from census 2021, where, as I am sure everyone is aware, Catholics have outnumbered Protestants in Northern Ireland for the first time.

“I implore this committee and the people of Ireland not to make any assumptions that a united Ireland is somehow more inevitable or that it has become substantially more likely. It is this kind of dismissive, tribal attitude that will kill the dream of unification,” he said.

Mr. Quigley told the committee that he believed people in the north would ‘strike down the idea of unity without hesitation if the most important economic and political bread-and-butter issues that matter to them are not resolved before a Border poll is even called’.

He quoted the late John Hume’s famous aphorism: ‘You can’t eat a flag’, adding: "Superfluous cultural issues must not take precedence over the economic and political issues.

"I believe strongly that the issues that animate the modern youth of Ireland are the bread-and-butter economic they face, or could face, in a united Ireland.”

The young Derry man told the Oireachtas how in his view it is imperative the southern state addresses its housing crisis, suggesting, ‘a radical, progressive rate of tax that increases exponentially in line with one's wealth would swell Government reserves and could finance the construction of more social housing for the general population’.

"Some progress has been made with the Housing for All initiative to alleviate the undersupply problem. Sky News has quoted the strategy's detractors, however, who have stated that 14 of the planned targets have gone unmet. This must be resolved before a referendum can even be called,” he said.

Health is another important issue that will require some groundwork prior to reunification.

“A united Ireland will be met with hostility if there are no plans in place for how an all-island health service can be set up, and the infrastructure that grounds this hypothetical health service must be in place before a referendum can occur.

"A unified, integrated health service would also alleviate the crippling hospital waiting times on both sides of the Border and ensure that waiting times for ambulances were lower, provided the Irish national health service were well funded, on an all-Ireland basis, with a progressive tax system and higher tax rates for wealthier citizens.

"There have been promising commitments under the Government's Sláintecare initiative to lower health costs, but the people of Northern Ireland will not vote ‘Yes’ in a Border poll unless they can be assured these costs will be eliminated,” he said.

He said it as his view that without an ‘unprecedentedly progressive system of taxation’ a united Ireland would not be viable.

"Without more money at the Government's disposal, it simply cannot accommodate Northern Ireland, especially considering that in 2021, Northern Ireland received a record £15 billion subsidy from London. A new Ireland must be able temporarily to match this until a sustainable economic arrangement can be found, not just for Northern Ireland but also for all the regions of Ireland that are economically dependent on Dublin. These regions must be able to stand on their own two feet in order for the entire country to thrive collectively,” he argued.

Senators were also told that careful planning is necessary in order to avoid the kind of political and constitutional blundering that has been witnessed in Britain over the past decade.

“To avoid the calamities of the Brexit referendum, a Border poll must be held with new, radical and innovative methods.

"For a united Ireland to work, it must make use of the innovative minds of Ireland to create a never-before-seen constitutional wonder that is prosperous, pluralistic and industrious, and that holds the Good Friday Agreement to be sacrosanct.

“A united Ireland must provide a home for all of Ireland's people, especially now given that within the Twenty-Six Counties, one in six people is now an immigrant.

"As Ireland develops into a modern, multicultural and tolerant society, so too must its Government and Constitution. The Good Friday Agreement must be held alongside the Constitution as a foundational document of a new Ireland.

“I commend the Seanad on making these preparations now and listening to the Irish people. Such open-mindedness and the accessibility of these public consultations will form the backbone of any drive to reunify Ireland.

"Done right, the reunification of this island will be a seminal moment in our generation’s lives and for generations to come, and we can revive the Celtic tiger,” stated Mr. Quigley.