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Towards a new Ireland The creation of a new Ireland will first require a focus on creating a shared island, says Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond, who has set out his detailed roadmap to how Irish unity might be achieved and what it might look like. Brexit, the Covid-19 public health response, and ambitions of economic recovery have all served as disrupters to what once was the narrative of unification on the island of Ireland. Advocates of and opponents to Irish unity have always existed but as the decades ticked by since partition, the middle ground has tended to lean heavily towards conservatism.
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the island of Ireland. One such example of that change is a series of interventions by southern politicians in the unification debate.
In Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement served to focus minds on peace, politics, and progression, pushing the unity question on to the long finger. In the South, the role reversal of economic fortunes from what once was the affluent north entrenched the mindset of ‘hold what we have’ and limit the risks.
In April, Dublin Rathdown TD Neale Richmond delivered a paper entitled ‘towards a New Ireland’ to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University as part of a wider series of discussions on Ireland’s future. Richmond, a Protestant Fine Gael TD, a grandson of an Orangeman and a regular visitor to Northern Ireland, is a self-confessed long-term believer in a united Ireland but believes that the freedom to talk about a united Ireland has emerged from a generational shift. “My parents’ generation would never have talked about this,” he admits.
However, the rhetoric around Irish unity has changed in recent years, accelerated undoubtedly by the UK’s exit from the EU and the implication that it has had on
Richmond is recognised as having a firm grip on Northern Ireland affairs, not just because of his family ties to north of the border but also through his role as his
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party’s spokesperson on European Affairs, a role dominated by Brexit. He previously chaired the Irish Seanad’s Brexit Committee and has engaged widely on the subject. Quizzed on why he has chosen now to publish his vision for unity, Richmond admits that the invite to speak at Sidney Sussex College necessitated him to put his thoughts to paper and a 10,000-word paper ensued. Previously critical of those who pushed for a border poll as Brexit negotiations were ongoing, the TD, who emphasises his long-standing belief in a united Ireland, says he now feels “comfortable” coming into the discussion. “There is no perfect time to do this, but I think it was a better time to engage in this conversation now, than it would have been a year or two ago. There is a certain element pushing a united Ireland, who have
