Motion: Partition

"This council notes the centenary anniversary of the Westminster parliament's Government of Ireland Act.

We note that the Good Friday Agreement caused this act to be revoked. [we welcome this]

We note the deep and wide divisions this has sustained and entrenched both within Irish society and in the relationships between the islands of Ireland and Britain, not least of those consequences has been the multi-layered generational conflict our society has endured.

We welcome and support the agreed framework provided by the peace process to address and deal with all of this by peaceful and democratic methods.

We recognise that the outworking of this - the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement in all its aspects - remains a work in progress.

This includes - its core requirements for equality of treatment, parity of esteem and mutual respect and the provision for a referendum to give full effect to the exercise by the people of Ireland to the right to self determine our future destiny and the centrality to this of both the British and Irish governments.

In the first instance in respect of rights throughout the island and in the second the particular responsibility on the British government to set a date for the referendum.

This council further recognises that a stark choice is opening up between the narrow, inward-looking vision of Brexit Britain and the open inclusive vision of a new Ireland.

Therefore we call upon this council to encourage space for debate to present experiences and perspectives, big ideas and a public discourse on our constitutional future which threatens no one. and; this council call on both governments to expedite the delivery of their respective responsibilities contained within the Good Friday Agreement."