Older people have an obligation to teach post-Troubles generations that “language matters, and not to romanticise the dark days”, according to Fine Gael Minister of State Neale Richmond.
Emphasising a determination to be at the forefront of the unity debate, Richmond is to tell party members on Tuesday that Fine Gael “cannot afford to be silent, to cede the ground to other political groups or push out any real conversations to a so-called better time”.
In an address, to be delivered at a meeting on the theme of unity, he is expected to say the 1998 Belfast Agreement “explicitly” offers the possibility “one day” of a unification referendum being held.
“By the very nature of our political ethos [in Fine Gael], we have the responsibility to properly plan, prepare and articulate what a united Ireland, a unified island, a New Ireland, means to us and could mean to everyone on this island,” according to a draft speech seen by The Irish Times.
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However, he notes that Fine Gael has responsibility to “carve out” a more nuanced, less emotive and balanced vision of unity that moves “away from the slogans, flag-waving and arbitrary timelines”.
In June, Fine Gael leader and Tánaiste Simon Harris announced that a “blueprint” for Irish unity would be ready for the party’s ardfheis in November. It is being prepared by the party’s Northern Engagement Group, led by Dublin West TD Emer Currie.
The work, including the contribution of leading Northern Ireland academic Deirdre Heenan, “will be a vital contribution to a conversation that will not go away and a conversation that should not go away”, the Minister of State is to tell party members.
In the draft speech, Richmond, the only Protestant minister in the Government, acknowledges that not everyone in Fine Gael is happy with the interest being shown by the party leadership in unification.
“Although the official name of our party is Fine Gael the United Ireland party, I know well that can mean very different things to different members while there are some who are simply uninterested or uncomfortable in having this discussion,” he is to say.
However, the upcoming blueprint “is very much in the spirit of one of the heroes of our political family and certainly one of my political heroes, Dr Garret FitzGerald”.
Fitzgerald “showed immense bravery and determination” to secure the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement and the New Ireland Forum, the speech notes say, showing clearly how “no one political tradition has sole ownership” of the unity debate.
Saying there is too much focus on the costs of unity and not enough on the economic opportunities it offers, Richmond is expected to say that unification could transform the economic fortunes for people living on either side of the Border.
However, he is to insist that those favouring unity must understand that a post-unity New Ireland will have to be a home “for a significant British population who cannot be forgotten about”.
