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Ireland’s Future reaffirms support for the Good Friday Agreement

Ireland’s Future calls for determined leadership and reaffirms our unequivocal support for the Good Friday Agreement.

Ireland’s Future continues to be guided in its work by a good faith interpretation of the values, principles and processes of the Good Friday Agreement. Our determination to achieve constitutional change has a legitimacy that derives from the Agreement, as a clear expression of the democratic will of the people of this island. We reaffirm our unequivocal support today and we urge others to join us in word and deed.

The right to self-determination that we defend and uphold has a secure home, and our objective is to ensure that people have an opportunity to exercise it in an informed and evidenced-based way. In a post-Brexit context we believe this constitutional imperative is even more pressing. We welcome the new voices that are contributing to the debate and we encourage more to follow. 

We are disturbed by current ill-advised and unwise attempts to undermine and rewrite the Agreement, including by those who express notional support for it. The absence of political leadership, evidenced in the failure to engage with effective planning and preparation by both governments, is contributing to instability here. We therefore call for political leadership to face openly and honestly into the pathway that this island is now on. We are on a trajectory towards concurrent referendums within the next decade. There is an onerous and shared responsibility to be prepared and ready. Ireland’s Future will continue to play our part. Our work will help to guarantee that people are ready to engage in campaigns, North and South, that will lead to a successful outcome and a better place for all of the people of this island to live.

Gerry Carlile, chief executive of Ireland’s Future stated:

‘We believe that it is the right time to plan and prepare for the concurrent referendums that will be held within this decade. In our view, it is disingenuous to talk endlessly about the principle of consent and then resist a process that would test it in practice. It is profoundly offensive to the people of this island, north and south, to deny them a basic choice on their own constitutional future. 

As we recommit to the Agreement today, we urge those who are attempting to place illegitimate obstacles in the way of constitutional change to desist. Rewriting the Agreement is not the way forward. Placing additional and novel hurdles in the way of people here is ill-advised and dangerous. We will press on with our work, guided by the Agreement. We are more determined than ever and we are heartened by the number of friends and supporters who have joined us. 

Our firm view remains that the denial of democratic choice can only continue for so long. We therefore reiterate our call to the Irish Government to establish an all-island Citizens’ Assembly to examine the present and future options for our shared island.  Our question is: Will you be reunification ready when the time comes?’

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