Pádraig Delargy says unity debate must be broad ahead of Future of Ireland event in Derry

Pádraig Delargy said the proposed ‘Celebrating Diversity – Ending Division’ event in the City Hotel next Tuesday at 7pm will open up space for a conversation about a ‘new and agreed Ireland’.

“The real focus is to make this as broad as possible. What we want is people who haven't really been part of the conversation about Irish unity yet and want to have the conversation, and also people who have been brought up in communities where that conversation hasn't really taken place, to have their say.

“This isn't a case of us telling people what our vision of a united Ireland is. It is very much about listening to people in the room and hearing their opinion,” he said.

The Sinn Féin MLA said some of the planned panellists at the event come from what would be described as a traditional unionist background and that the discussion will have an independent chair.

Invitations to the debate were issued by Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald last month to a range of individuals and groups in Derry inviting them to be part of a dialogue about how a future without division can be achieved.

Mr. Delargy cited the example of Brexit in arguing for an informed debate on the potential for reunification.

“The big thing for us is allowing people to have that space to have that conversation. We have seen with other referendums - look at Brexit - how things went so badly wrong because people were misinformed and lied to.

“We want to be able to have a conversation about how a new and agreed Ireland would work with everyone. That's not just going to be a case of our vision. It is going to be a case of everybody's vision.

"We want to make sure when people go forward for a referendum on Irish unity that they have the full facts, they have all the information, they have a part in it, and they know their voices are being heard and listened to. That is integral to it all,” said the Foyle MLA.

The engagement event, Mr. Delargy argued, will be an opportunity to set out a vision for the future of the island and to allay any concerns about what that might look like.

“So people who feel they might be marginalised or disenfranchised by it know that that is not going to be the case, that they have as much a say as anybody else and that their rights are going to be protected,” he maintained.

Sinn Féin’s National Chairperson Declan Kearney said the Derry event is the latest in a series of engagements.

“The Commission on the Future of Ireland is an ambitious public, sectoral and private consultation on the Future of Ireland. Its first successful event in the form of a People’s Assembly took place in Belfast in October and plans are advanced for further Peoples Assemblies in Donegal in late January, and then in March,” he said.

Anyone wishing to attend can register at www.eventbrite.ie/e/celebrating-diversity-ending-division-tickets-466273505607