The unification of Ireland debate will be a key issue in coming years and must be part of the presidential campaign because the next officeholder could serve for 14 years, former Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader Colum Eastwood has declared.
The Derry MP has made clear his interest in running in the October election, though an overture to Fianna Fáil leader, Micheál Martin, in June met with a cool response, and no action since by the party.
However, Mr Eastwood appears still to believe that a nomination could be secured from four city and county councils in September, perhaps with a signal from Mr Martin to Fianna Fáil councillors to support him.
“We’ve had a lot of potential candidates and a lot of people talking about how great they would be as individuals, but not a lot of people are talking about their vision for the country,” he told The Irish Times.
RM Block
“The next president could be there for 14 years. We need somebody in post who is prepared to talk about, think about and lead on the issue of bringing the people of Ireland back together again.
“Given how long the term is, potentially if it’s two terms, the idea of not having somebody who has thought about that deeply, or is not prepared to lead on it as our president, would be pretty bizarre,” he said.
Speaking at the Féile an Phobail festival in west Belfast last weekend, Mr Eastwood said “the cat is out of the bag” on the constitutional question: “In my view, the United Kingdom is disintegrating before our very eyes.”
The biggest lesson he has learned from his time as an MP in Westminster is that large elements of British political and public opinion “care if Scotland goes, but they don’t care if we go”.
“In fact, if we left in the morning and caused no trouble, they’d be happy enough. I just don’t believe that there is anything that can be done by any British government to stop that momentum,” he went on.
Saying that he wanted a united Ireland even if it meant he had “to eat grass”, Mr Eastwood accepted that middle ground opinion in Northern Ireland must be convinced that they are not putting their futures at risk by voting for it.
“There is a significant number of people in the middle who are unsure, or undecided, or just curious about it. We need to know who they are, and who they might vote for. We need to know what makes them tick, and what convinces them.
“We need to speak to them relentlessly over a period of years to convince them. If they tell us that they have concerns about pensions, we need to take that concern away by having the answer,” he said.
Mr Eastwood, who leads the SDLP’s New Ireland Commission, added that unless they looked at “every single thing that makes them worried or concerned and have an answer for that”, they would lose.
Meanwhile, the Alliance Party, which declares itself as neutral on the constitutional question will “not count” in future, even though people who currently vote for it will be central to the outcome of any referendum held, he said.
“I think their voters are the most important people in this conversation. But I think the Alliance Party, if they continue to say they have no position on the future of this island, will not count,” he declared.
Political parties “have to have positions” on the important issues facing society: “I don’t think it’s good enough, actually, to say that they are going to decide at some point in the future.”
