The Taoiseach told the fifth forum of his Shared Island Initiative of the need to acknowledge that the legacy of the Troubles causes immense challenges for society.
Micheál Martin’s address in Dublin follows the announcement of €377 million in 12 cross-border projects, bringing total allocations to €1 billion from the €2 billion committed so far by the Government for the initiative, reports RTE.
Mr Martin said “there remains a need for a sustained, strategic focus” on “investing in the future across both jurisdictions in far more ambitious and integrated ways,” given the connections and interdependence between both parts of the island.
The Taoiseach reminded those present of the need to acknowledge that the legacy of the Troubles causes immense and continuing challenges for society in Northern Ireland in particular, including the scourge of residual paramilitarism, reports RTE.
He spoke of the “essential” work of the Irish and British governments on an agreed framework for dealing with legacy.
This comes ahead of the election of a new British prime minister following the repair of Irish-Anglo relations under the premiership of Keir Starmer, reports RTE.
Mr Martin said “there persists also a zero-sum identity politics in Northern Ireland that does as little for the communities it is purported to serve” or for “advancing anyone’s aspirations for the constitutional future of this island.”
He also pointed to the enormous role the EU played in peace on the island, not just through words but through important projects like PeacePlus, reports RTE.
The remarks came amid preparations for Ireland to assume the EU Presidency.
“And like the peace process itself, this is work that continues — in Brussels, Dublin, Belfast and London,” Mr Martin’s speech stated, reports RTE.
Yesterday, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald spoke of the need to prepare for a united Ireland at the party’s annual Wolfe Tone commemoration.
“A united Ireland is about collapsing division and bringing the people of this island together to shape a better for all,” she said, reports RTE.
She added: “Tone taught that ordinary Catholics, Protestants and dissenters had far more in common with one another than with those who sought to keep them apart.
“That lesson is as important today as it was then,” reports RTE.
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