There must be a united Ireland if majority votes for it, says Durkan

A UNITED Ireland would not necessarily require unionist “consent and assent”, the SDLP said yesterday. Rather, party leader Mark Durkan argued, it “is clear there must be a united Ireland if a majority in the North votes in favour” of it in a referendum.

The Good Friday Agreement provides that the British Government must negotiate with the Irish Government to provide for a united Ireland if a majority in the North vote for it.

Such a referendum should be held once the Northern institutions have “bedded down and are operating stably”, the SDLP believes.

But unity would not be about the “entrapment” of unionists.

Mr Durkan was speaking at the launch in Dublin yesterday afternoon of the SDLP’s proposals for achieving a united Ireland within the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

Separate launches were held in Belfast and Newry.

“We believe that all the rights, protections and inclusion that nationalists sought within Northern Ireland while it is in the UK must equally be guaranteed to unionists within a united Ireland,” the document states.

Nonetheless, the SDLP said it did not agree with Sinn Féin that “unionist consent and assent” would be required to bring about a united Ireland.

“Uniquely, among the main parties in the North, the SDLP is clear that there must be a united Ireland if a majority in the North votes in favour.”

Under the SDLP blueprint, a Northern Ireland Assembly would remain with all its cross-community protections, but as a regional parliament of a united Ireland rather than Britain.

The right for differing sections of the population to identify themselves as British or Irish, and to hold passports of either country, would remain, as would co-operation between London and Dublin.

Just as there is Northern representation in the Seanad at present, those who wished it should still have representation in the House of Lords after unity, the party said. But instead of sending MPs to the House of Commons, the North would elect TDs to the Dáil, with far greater representation there than in Westminster and therefore greater power.

The SDLP said it would seeking the endorsement of all southern political parties for the strategy of achieving unity based on the Agreement.

In an effort to put clean water between the SDLP and Sinn Féin ahead of the British general election, Mr Durkan said his party was one of “true republicanism”.

The SDLP, he said, “don’t rob children of their father... We stand for justice, not in the way of justice.”