{"id":1074976,"date":"2026-07-07T22:22:37","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T22:22:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1074976\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T22:22:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T22:22:37","slug":"sinn-feins-unity-bill-not-credible-taoiseach-claims-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1074976\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s unity Bill \u2018not credible\u2019, Taoiseach claims \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has called a unity Bill tabled by Sinn F\u00e9in as \u201cnot credible\u201d and said it took an approach that had failed numerous times.<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in leader Mary Lou McDonald has tabled a Bill that would require a Green Paper on Irish unity to be published within 18 months, as well as provide for the convening of a Citizens\u2019 Assembly.<\/p>\n

The Irish Government is opposing the Planning for Constitutional Change Bill, which Sinn F\u00e9in described as a \u201cpolitical test\u201d for the coalition parties.<\/p>\n

T\u00e1naiste and Fine Gael leader Simon Harris said he did not doubt the \u201cbona fides\u201d of Ms McDonald and her party on tabling the Bill, but said constitutional change \u201ccannot be driven by deadlines or arbitrary timelines\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"PSNI<\/a>\"Jeffrey<\/a>\"TaoiseachTaoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin (Liam McBurney\/PA) <\/p>\n

Ms McDonald said now was the \u201ctime to write the next chapter, the chapter of reunification\u201d, as former Sinn F\u00e9in leader Gerry Adams watched from the D\u00e1il\u2019s public gallery.<\/p>\n

\u201cReunification is of course about removing the border, but not only that, it is about so much more,\u201d she said at the second stage of the Bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is about seizing the moment and the opportunity to create a new deal for the people of Ireland, for every person on this island, a new deal for Protestants and unionists, which protects their British identity and replaces the bad treatment and abandonment from 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Martin said the Bill would \u201cdo little to achieve its objective\u201d and takes an approach \u201cwhich has failed repeatedly over the past 100 years\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead of waving flags in people\u2019s faces and talking about the inevitable march of history, we need people to be open about the scale of the obstacles to overcome and the spirit of a peace agreement, which is the bedrock upon which we can build our future,\u201d he told TDs.<\/p>\n

He said sectarian murder and destruction had \u201cdeepened\u201d division and those who had sought unification by peaceful means had \u201cfailed to create a vision for the future\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said the proposal for a policy statement on Irish unity centred around \u201cthe assumptions of \u2018one more push\u2019 or \u2018demography is destiny\u2019, which have always failed\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said of the Bill: \u201cAll analysis and proposals about the economy, education systems, health services, public service pay, the replacement of sterling, legal systems, policing, legacy, culture, identity, and constitutional structures must be completed in a year and a half. This is obviously not credible.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cPlease let\u2019s move beyond the new slogan that all we need is government advocacy and a Citizens\u2019 Assembly, and then we\u2019ll be ready.<\/p>\n

\u201cA policy of \u2018one more push\u2019 and hoping for an unpopular government in London will achieve nothing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we can share a common understanding of the facts then we can discuss our future on an informed basis, rather than simply singing the old songs and expecting something new to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s chief whip told Mr Martin that he was \u201cno Albert Reynolds and no Bertie Ahern\u201d, and asked him to reflect on the words of Charles Stewart Parnell that \u201cno man has a right to fix the boundary of the march of a nation\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Irish Government confirmed it would oppose the Bill after a Fianna F\u00e1il TD suggested many of his colleagues would back the proposals if there had been a free vote on the matter.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the vote, Ms McDonald called for support for the Bill and highlighted that Mr Harris said his party would bring forward a \u201cblueprint\u201d for Irish unification by November, and said it would be \u201ckind of astonishing\u201d if Fianna F\u00e1il was to vote against legislation \u201cwhose sole purpose is to prepare for referendums on Irish unity\u201d.<\/p>\n

At a briefing earlier, Fianna F\u00e1il TD Pat \u201cthe Cope\u201d Gallagher said he had not been \u201ctold officially what we\u2019re doing\u201d, but would support the Bill if he was to be given a free vote.<\/p>\n

\"SinnSinn F\u00e9in vice president Michelle O\u2019Neill (Liam McBurney\/PA) <\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI would be anxious that we could move forward, that this vote would be carried. I\u2019m not so sure what might happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI haven\u2019t been told officially what we\u2019re doing, but I\u2019ve been loyal since I came in here in 1981 and I\u2019m hardly going to change now \u2013 but I will try and use my influence to ensure that we could move on with the Green Paper within 18 months or 24 months, or whatever it may be.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said \u201ca lot\u201d of his colleagues would feel the same way, but added: \u201cI\u2019m waiting to hear the statement by the leader of my party, what the views are there, and we\u2019ll wait and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sinn F\u00e9in deputy leader and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O\u2019Neill said a vote against the legislation would send a \u201creally negative message\u201d to those in the region and \u201creally set back the project of our nationhood\u201d.<\/p>\n

Its leadership is due to speak to Andy Burnham, who is widely expected to become the next UK prime minister in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Asked if she expected Mr Burnham\u2019s premiership to materially differ from Sir Keir Starmer\u2019s, Ms O\u2019Neill said: \u201cThe short answer would be no, I don\u2019t expect anything to be any different.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be my seventh prime minister that I\u2019ve been dealing with in 10 years. It underlines the chaos of Westminster.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt underlines why more than ever we need this legislation passed and why we need to plan for the future, because I\u2019m very certain that citizens in the North will be much better served in a new constitutional arrangement, a united Ireland, a better future for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Taoiseach Miche\u00e1l Martin has called a unity Bill tabled by Sinn F\u00e9in as \u201cnot credible\u201d and said it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1074977,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[294517,15458,294518,680,681,1144,294519,285,13136,16,15],"class_list":["post-1074976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-constitutional-change","tag-irish","tag-irish-unity","tag-mary-lou-mcdonald","tag-micheal-martin","tag-northern-ireland","tag-planning-for-constitutional-change-bill-debate","tag-politics","tag-republic-of-ireland","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116881035939199447","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1074976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1074976"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1074976\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1074977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1074976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1074976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1074976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}