Diaspora / Irish Abroad

“Micheál Martin has now said that there needs to be a discussion about this. I welcome that shift. The Irish Government should now press the British Government for a serious, structured discussion on the criteria and process for triggering a referendum. “What is just as urgent is the need for the Irish Government to begin the practical work of preparing for a referendum and for the future beyond it.”

The DUP is the leading party of pro-British Unionists and shares a mandatory place in a power-sharing government, with mutual vetoes. Having differing parties in government with opposing worldviews will always be challenging. The DUP's actions undermine confidence in political institutions, and they seem determined to test the electorate's patience.

Within hours, the clarifications began; the British Prime Minister supported the Agreement's provisions and said a unity referendum was not on his agenda "today". It was very much on the agenda of Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald, who led a party delegation including First Minister Michelle O'Neill and John Finucane to meet Andy Burnham.  The vast majority of people in the North and South endorsed the Good Friday Agreement, which enshrines in International law the right of the Irish People to national self-determination via referendums. That right is not in the gift of any British Prime Minister to take "off the table".

As Mayo filmmaker and documentarian Breege Rowley prepares for the Cleveland premiere of her film All Our Yesterdays, she reflects on an extraordinary 11-year journey—one that began with a simple but unsettling realization: 

More than 500 lots spanning centuries of Irish life - from traditional spongeware and bog oak to Killarney work, vernacular furniture and objects connected to the 1916 Rising and Bloody Sunday - will be offered online September 15th.