Transcript of Sinn Fein leader calls for Irish unity referendum at Labour Party conference

Outline for us why you've decided to go there to Labour's conference this year.

Well, as you can understand, we're always talking to people in British politics, in government and opposition, about Irish affairs. You'll know that Sinn Féin, my party, now holds the first Ministry in the north of Ireland. Michelle O'Neill, our colleague, came in to post some months ago. We're here because it's a new labor government that represents a new opportunity to progress things and move things along. We're very, very conscious that the Good Friday Agreement, which was signed some 26 years ago, a ground-breaking agreement for peace and reconciliation conciliation is very much a legacy of the British Labor Party. We are hopeful, we anticipate, and we expect that Kier Starmer as Prime Minister, that the whole administration will now come behind the Good Friday Agreement And in its totality, to bring the Irish story, the journey towards peace to the next destination. And of course, at the heart of the Good Friday Agreement is a provision for referendums to end the partition of our island and really to complete the journey to equality and to peace. So it's a very exciting time. I really hope that the new Prime Minister will grasp this historic opportunity. And I hope he, like I, would wish that when the history books record the Irish story and the final full resolution of the Irish conflict, that it might be a Labor Prime Minister who had the vision and the integrity to take these next steps with us.

It sounds like you're very optimistic that this is pending. I mean, looking through what Sirkir Starmer has said about the potential for a referendum on Irish unification during his time in opposition, the The theme of what he was saying was not as optimistic as what you're saying. He was saying it's not even on the horizon. So where are you getting this optimism from? Has he told you something else that we haven't been party to yet?

Well, I am forever optimistic. I think in public life and in public leadership, you are honor and duty bound to be optimistic, but of course not naive. And of course, I have heard the things that the Prime Minister has said whilst in opposition. But he's now the Prime Minister. He now, along with the British government, with the government in Dublin, are co-garrantors of this very special peace arrangement, this peace agreement, and you can't cherry-pick from it. At the heart of the agreement is, of course, working together in the here and now on the bread and butter issues that affect every single citizen. Those really matter now. But running right alongside that is an obligation to plan for the future and to plan for these referendums. We shouldn't stumble into this. With all due respect, we watched the manner in which the Brexit debate happened. To us, that was a case study in how not to do it. What we want now is preparation and dialog and that mature conversation that I have been talking about between, of course, the people on our island, the people in the north, the people in the south also, but critically between the Dublin and the London administrations.

And by the way, this Irish story of finding peace and reunification is great news for all of us. This is right for Ireland, but I would submit that it's right for Britain as well. It's right for the British people and the Irish people for us to live not just as good neighbors, but I would hope ultimately as the very best of friends.

I'm just interested, again, that the scale of what you seem to be hoping, possibly even expecting to hear from the Prime Minister, not necessarily even just in the next few months, but in the next few years. If you've said, as you did, that you've heard his tone on this topic in opposition in the lead up to the election, do you really expect him to turn on a dime and promise you the world within weeks or months of having one power?

I'm not asking for the world. We, as Irish people, are not asking for anything more or less than we are legally entitled to, and nothing more or less than is contained in the Good Friday Agreement. Do you expect a referendum? Yes, as per the Good Friday Agreement, I didn't invent this idea on my way into studio. This is a long-standing provision of an agreement that is now 26 years old. What I am saying, I suppose, in summary, is that all parties to the agreement now need to recognize the depth of change that's happening in Ireland. The unionist majority in the north of Ireland, the electoral majority, is gone. It's not coming back. We live in the now and we have to plan for the future. I am asking for, and we are promoting, dialog, inclusion amongst all stakeholders of all perspectives. But there has to be clarity from the British government, and by the way, the government in Dublin, that the referendum provisions of the Good Friday Agreement were not drafted to lie dormant, but will, in fact be enacted, and that the people ultimately will have our say and decide our future together democratically and peacefully.

And as I said earlier, it is my great hope also in a spirit of respect, cooperation, and indeed, friendship with Britain.

Mary Lou McDonald, thank you for joining us.

My pleasure. Thank you for having me.