Member's statement: Planning for Constitutional Change Bill
Member's statement by Mrs Cathy Mason on .
- MLA
- Mrs Cathy Mason
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 16 June 2026
- Type
- Member's statement
- Business
- Members' Statements
- Heading
- Planning for Constitutional Change Bill
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5623538
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Today in the Dáil, Sinn Féin will introduce a private Member's Bill that will require an Taoiseach to get planning and preparation for constitutional change and Irish unity under way. There is already an exciting and energetic debate under way across all four corners of the island about what a new Ireland would look like. I welcome Fine Gael's announcement that it will put forward a blueprint on Irish unity in November. Like never before, people are engaging and are genuinely interested in what constitutional change would look like for them. We have been clear: the Irish Government should step up and begin proper planning and preparation. The election of a first-ever nationalist and republican First Minister in the North and the recent election of pro-independence First Ministers in the North, Scotland and Wales have shown that people are fed up with savage Westminster policies. People want to look to a future in which decisions are made at home and in the best interests of the people who live here. The legislation that will be introduced by uachtaráin Sinn Féin
Mary Lou McDonald today provides for the Taoiseach to publish a government Green Paper to set out their ideas and vision for a united Ireland. It will also provide for the establishment of a citizens' assembly to help to shape and inform the debate. Importantly, that will involve people from across the island and from all sections of our community, including those from unionist and Protestant traditions. Preparation and planning are vital. The Bill will provide the Irish Government with the opportunity to start planning and preparing for Irish unity.
270 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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