by Ben Folley
The importance of putting Irish unity on the political agenda in Britain was the message at last Saturday’s 500-strong conference at the TUC organised by Sinn Féin. Opening the conference, Sinn Féin vice-president Pat Doherty said: “The Good Friday Agreement clearly recognises that it is for the people of the island of Ireland to determine our own future – to exercise our self-determination.”
In light of a recent meeting the Tories held with the UUP and DUP, Lord Alf Dubs, chair of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, issued a word of warning about the damage a future Conservative government could cause, saying that any future government “should not back one part of the community over another”.
Sinn Féin MLA and MP Conor Murphy pointed out that historically underdeveloped border areas were benefiting from new infrastructure programmes initiated under the Agreement. He said: “All-Ireland institutions have proved their worth and even most Unionists would accept that.”
Ken Livingstone said the peace process had neverbeen viable without unionists opening a dialogue with Sinn Féin and the conference demonstrated Sinn Féin’s own pro-active engagement with unionism. And in a sign of the increasing openness, Pat Doherty said he accepted that Orange marches have a place in a “new Ireland”.
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