SINN FÉIN leader Gerry Adams will launch a debate on the issue of Irish unity when he delivers a keynote address on July 14 at Westminster.
The meeting will seek to invite people in Britain to discuss the future relationship between Britain and Ireland, and the prospect of Irish reunification.
Speaking about the launch, Sinn Féin MP for West Tyrone Pat Doherty said: “We want to open this debate to everybody and we will be hoping to engage the public on this issue over the coming months. The aim of a united Ireland is legitimately recognised in the Good Friday Agreement — which provides for how this has come to be. There is a feeling that this issue has gone off the radar in recent times and we intend to give it a wide and varied platform and invite everybody to contribute.”
The meeting will form part of Sinn Féin’s international initiative to open this debate. Already this summer, two conferences have been held in New York and San Francisco.
“The conferences in the United States have been hugely successful,” said Jayne Fisher from the party’s London Office, “and we hope that enthusiasm will be replicated when Gerry Adams makes his address this week in Westminster — this is not a Sinn Féin issue, it’s an issue for everybody.”
Fisher also said that various meetings across Ireland have been scheduled.
This week’s address by Adams comes ahead of a major conference to be held in February 2010, which will seek to broaden further contributions to the discussion.