Campaigns to lobby for a united Ireland could tap into the huge Irish populations living in the US and in Britain, Sinn Féin said today.
Later this month the party is to stage a major event at Dublin’s Mansion House marking the sitting of the first Dáil, which followed the rise of Sinn Féin nearly a century ago.
But 90 years after the events that led to the war of independence in Ireland, modern republicans hope to build on the current peace process to lobby internationally for Irish unity.
While the Belfast Agreement ensured Northern Ireland’s constitutional position within the UK cannot change without the consent of a majority of voters, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said his party wanted to encourage debate towards ending partition.
“All of this is part of a process,” he said.
“I like to judge it, because it’s convenient to do so, in a 40-year span.
“And 40 years in a lifetime is huge, but in history it’s only a blink.
“If you consider what things were like here 40 years ago, in terms of both the Orange state, the conservative, impoverished state in the south, the fragmented and very minimalist republican development.
“And then you fast forward to now — without for a moment minimising all the tragedies and difficulties that have occurred in between — you can see how things have moved ahead.
“That’s what’s going to happen in the up-coming period. It’s an incremental process of building the republic day-by-day.”
“Of course Sinn Fein have to do an awful lot in terms of building our organisation and our support, particularly in the 26 counties, but that’s a challenge we are prepared to rise to,” said Mr Adams.
He conceded the international media had moved on from focusing on Ireland.
“But the Irish Diaspora haven’t,” he said.
“We are regularly engaged with the Irish Diaspora.
“And if you move outside the Diaspora and talk to anyone, they will tell you — and I defy anyone to contradict this — that most people who know anything about Ireland know the British government should have no claim or jurisdiction.
“What we have to do is galvanise that.”
PA