High time we had a citizens’ assembly on uniting Ireland
RECENT opinion polls on the reunification of our island have shown there are unquestionably two areas where consensus has been reached north and south.
These two areas are, firstly, the need for planning and preparing ahead of any such referendum, and secondly, EU membership, with polls repeatedly showing that the majority of voters north and south favour EU membership. This leads me to the conclusion that it is incumbent upon the Irish Government to establish a citizens’ assembly on the constitutional future of our island.
As an MEP, I recently hosted the launch of the independent report entitled ‘Making the Case for Irish Unity in the EU’, by Professor Colin Harvey and Mark Bassett BL. This report explores the legal mechanisms outlined in the Good Friday Agreement and recognised under international law, for the entire island of Ireland to be reunited within the EU, and the steps the EU can take in order to provide for such an eventuality.
It is now time for the Irish Government and the EU institutions to engage in this conversation on a formal level, to ensure any future referendum on Irish unity is informed and fact-based, void of the chaos and confusion we saw in the Brexit campaign. The best way to do this is via an All-Island Citizens’ Assembly, bringing together people from all walks of life to discuss and debate what a new Ireland would look like.
So, to our recently reappointed Taoiseach, I say, if you’re looking for any new year’s resolutions, why not make 2023 the year you establish a citizens’ assembly on the reunification of Ireland? CHRIS MacMANUS, Sinn Féin MEP, Sligo.
Wrong approach
MINISTER for Housing Darragh O’Brien says he is disturbed at the recent protests over migrants, but he should not be surprised.
Perhaps if the Government consulted local community leaders before they bussed in migrants, it would be a help.
I am aware that Ireland has, under international agreements, an obligation to house these unfortunate people, and rightly so, but with thousands of Irish homeless, is it not time to cap the number of migrants coming into ÷ MY HEART bleeds for King Charles. Having lost his parents, he has to contend with the spiteful pettymindedness of his son. PENELOPE SLINGSBY, by email. the country, at least for the present? What is the point in allowing people fleeing war, etc, into the country and housing them in tents? And when the hotels that are housing migrants tell them they must vacate, in order that the hotels can begin to cater for the tourists, where will they go?
J. McCOURT, Dundalk, Co. Louth.
Life of luxury
SEVERAL newspapers have recently published the photo of Princess Diana sitting alone on a bench in front of the Taj Mahal. It is usually accompanied by comments about the loneliness of being a royal and how hard it can be to live in that environment.
I have the same photo, with me sitting on that bench, but it also includes the other 20 or so people in our tour group, and we could only stay there for a few minutes until the next tour group took their photos. There were also hundreds if not thousands of other people in the background.
Yes, a royal life could be a lonely life, but it is a very well-indulged life, and the annoyance of having to cut a few ribbons should be balanced by the benefits of having your own dresser, servants, office and basically everything you want supplied by the taxpaying public.
If Prince Harry wants to leave the gilded cage, then he needs to find his own food and water and spend less time complaining. DENNIS FITZGERALD, Melbourne, Australia. ... WHY does poor Megs have to prostrate herself on the floor to perform her sobbing acts? Surely she could lie on the second-hand couch, purchased with her very own credit card.
MAJELLA RYAN, Knocklong, Co. Limerick.