Sinn Fein calls for Irish unity
Sinn Fein has called for a united Ireland to be established as soon as possible, and has urged the Irish government to publish a green paper on the issue.
The motion – to be debated this evening – will ask the government to “prepare politically, economically, socially and culturally for Irish unification”.
Caoimhghin O Caolain, Sinn Fein’s leader in the Dail, has urged all Irish political parties to back the idea.
“People are talking about the symbolism of a united Ireland for the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising in 2016 but I believe it should be achieved as soon as humanly possible. I hope to see it in my lifetime,” he said.
But the Democratic Unionist party has dismissed Sinn Fein’s request for a united Ireland as a “pure pipe dream”.
The motion comes a week after an independent monitoring body said the IRA had decommissioned its weapons.
