Ivor Callely
Ceist:22 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the main mechanisms that exist by which a united Ireland can be put in place; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12441/98]
Written Answers. - British-Irish Agreement.
The Good Friday Agreement defines the means by which a united Ireland can be achieved. For the first time, a clear mechanism to enable this is to be established in our Constitution and in British constitutional legislation.
Specifically, the British-Irish Agreement recognises that it is for the people of the island of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively and without external impediment, to exercise their right of self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given, North and South, to bring about a united Ireland, if that is their wish. It is accepted that this right must be achieved and exercised with, and subject to the agreement and consent of, a majority of the people of Northern Ireland. It is acknowledged that the present wish of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland is to maintain the Union. The two Governments affirm however that if, in the future, the people on the island exercise their right to self-determination on the basis described in the Agreement to bring about a united Ireland, it will be a binding obligation on both Governments to introduce and support in their respective parliaments legislation to give effect to that wish.
The new Article 3.1 of our Constitution recognises "that a united Ireland shall be brought about only by peaceful means with the consent of a majority of the people, democratically expressed, in both jurisdictions on the island." The new British constitutional legislation will provide that if the wish expressed by a majority voting in a poll in Northern Ireland "is that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a united Ireland, the Secretary of State shall lay before Parliament such proposals to give effect to that wish as may be agreed" between the two Governments.