“The Political Establishment Is Preparing For A New Ireland, Not A New Republic.” - Breandán Mac Cionnaith
“The political establishment is preparing for a New Ireland, not a New Republic. And there’s a very big difference between the two.” So says Éirígí For A New Republic spokesperson, Breandán Mac Cionnaith.
Mac Cionnaith was speaking ahead of the ‘Together We Can - Preparing for a New Ireland’ event which is taking place in the 3 Arena in Dublin tomorrow. Promoted as the the ‘biggest ever United Ireland conference’, it is being organised by the lobby group, Ireland’s Future.
Speaking from Portadown, Co Armagh, Mac Cionnaith said, “The fact that events like the one in the 3 Arena are happening at all is a clear sign that there is growing momentum toward Irish reunification.
It is equally clear that the Irish political establishment, on both sides of the border, are attempting to shape and control the discussion about what a future Ireland might look like. There is, of course, a clear historical precedent for the forces of conservatism working together to limit change in a scenario where they cannot stop it altogether.
Breandán Mac Cionnaith addressing an Éirígí Ard Fheis
A century ago, the most conservative forces in the Twenty-Six Counties, including the churches, big business and some former republican combatants came together as a counter-revolution to seize control of the then emergent Free State. At the same time, equally conservative forces in the Six Counties were laying the foundations of what would become the Orange state.
Tomorrow’s event in Dublin is to be addressed by leading figures from Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, Labour and the Green Party - the four political parties that have collectively ruled the Twenty-Six Counties since the foundation of the state. Danny McCoy of Irish Business and Employer Confederation will also be taking part.
These speakers are the literal representatives of the political establishment and big business in the Twenty-Six Counties — the same forces that have spent the last hundred years doing all in their power to undermine the republican cause. And now, as demographics and other factors increase the momentum towards Irish reunification, they have become united-Irelanders over night.
Every establishment political party, from Fine Gael to Sinn Féin, now use identical language and phraseology when speaking about reunification. Phrases such as “an agreed Ireland”, “a new Ireland” and “new constitutional arrangements” are not designed to placate unionism as claimed.
They are, in fact, designed to de-republicanise the process of Irish reunification and to open the political space for other, non-republican, constitutional arrangements to gain traction.
Éirígí activists on the Garvaghy Road in 2021.
The process of reunification has the potential to unleash powerful forces that the establishment will not be able to control — forces that could secure radical political, social and economic change, as well as constitutional change.
It is for this reason that the establishment is now coming together to attempt to control the parameters of the reunification discussion. The political establishment, is preparing for a New Ireland, not a New Republic. And there’s a very big difference between the two.
We in Éirígí understand that there has never been a more important time to talk about republicanism as a political philosophy and to promote a New Republic as the only system of governance that can deliver liberty, equality and justice for all.
For our part we want to build the forces of maximum change — to use the opportunity of reunification to undo the failings of the past and to build a new political system and a new democratic economy that will deliver for all of our people, regardless of their religion, skin colour or class.
We will not allow the establishment to drown out the republican vision of the United Irishmen, the Young Irelanders, the Fenians and the women and men of 1916.
I would strongly encourage those who agree with our analysis to join Éirígí and work with us to build momentum not only for Irish reunification, but for the establishment of a New Republic that will end the tyranny of the bosses, bankers, landlords and their gombeen political fixers.”