“We think setting arbitrary dates is not that helpful … but we are also very, very clear that it’s entirely compatible with the Good Friday Agreement to properly plan and engage now.”
As the SDLP gathers for its annual conference this weekend, party leader Claire Hanna is eager to put constitutional change at the heart of discussions. For her, the debate on Irish unity cannot be left solely to others. Instead, she argues, the SDLP has a unique role in shaping how the conversation unfolds across the island.
The party’s New Ireland Commission, launched to explore what constitutional change could mean in practice, is central to that vision.
It aims to bring in voices from outside party politics, including academics, civic leaders and others who want to contribute without being tied to a political banner. Claire Hanna is clear that this work is not a distraction from the SDLP’s day-to-day focus on governance, but rather a complement to it.
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Yet the conference is not just about looking inward. The SDLP leader has invited senior figures from southern politics, including representatives of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Labour and the Social Democrats, to take part in a panel on how Northern Ireland can be positively framed in national debate.
They will also be joined by former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who is a guest speaker at their conference dinner on Friday night. Claire Hanna believes this is essential if the conversation on unity is to move forward constructively.
“Yeah, look, the SDLP has for a very long time been, I suppose, the common ground in democratic Ireland, and we’ve worked very hard to make sure that issues relating to the north don’t become a political football,” she said.
“One of the really unique things we can bring to this journey towards constitutional change is being able to convene, work with, bring together, draw out, those who are interested in the north, those who are interested in particularly, a New Ireland across the political spectrum because no one political party is ever going to be able to deliver that and we’re honest as well with those of us who are seeking change in the north, we do have work to do in the Republic to positively frame the north.”
She points to the upcoming panel as evidence of that convening role, and of the need to challenge perceptions south of the border. “We’re talking about how we move beyond the basket case narrative, how we talk about the really positive attributes from Northern Ireland … people in the north who succeed, probably in spite of government and not because of it, but who can be a real asset to a new Ireland and drive all the things that actually need to be new.”
At the core of Claire Hanna’s message is that constitutional politics must not become detached from people’s everyday lives.
“We are always focused on people’s needs in the here and now and driving better from government right now,” she said. “We’re never about treating this as some sort of waiting room for a new Ireland and everybody just has to live with low standards. We can do both.”
That balancing act runs through her description of the New Ireland Commission. “The New Ireland commission is a vehicle, I suppose, that can also bring in people who don’t want to work directly with a political party. It is doing research. It’s doing wider engagement with other parties and non-governmental actors who are thinking in this space. But make no bones about it, you know, the new Ireland project is fundamentally one for the SDLP across our organisation.”
On the sensitive question of timing, Claire Hanna is measured. Responding to comments from UUP deputy leader Robbie Butler, who warned that governments setting a referendum timetable would “rip the Belfast Agreement apart,” she stresses the importance of preparation over deadlines.
“I really respect Robbie. I think he’s a decent person trying to represent well, and he’s concerned about a good, constructive debate. Look, the Good Friday Agreement is clear that a poll should be called when it is likely to win. The SDLP are honest that that’s not where we are right now. So we think setting arbitrary dates is not that helpful … but we are also very, very clear that it’s entirely compatible with the Good Friday Agreement to properly plan and engage now.”
For Claire Hanna, that preparation should begin immediately. “We don’t want to get to that point and not have the thinking and the preparation done. So we are calling on the Irish government to properly engage and create a process that doesn’t have to distract from the everyday work that we’re doing on both sides of the border, but that does validate that trajectory, and that’s entirely in line with the Good Friday Agreement.”
The SDLP leader frames the project as more than political, but one that is also cultural, economic and social. “We want it to be based on a genuine reconciliation, you know, moving beyond the photo op or the handshake, just a new way of living in this complex place, and we want it, I suppose, to tap people here into the dynamism and the economic opportunity that people have in the Republic, but we want to make the best of both systems.. We want people here to feel proud of our role on the world stage. We want people here to benefit from that prioritisation of arts and culture.”
Above all, she casts unity as a shared opportunity. “And crucially, we think it’s exciting and simple that we get to do that together. It’s such a unique opportunity that we have collectively here, in all our differences and diversity, to write that chapter together, and the SDLP are very, very excited about the role we’re going to play in that in the years to come.”
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