SDLP leader Colum Eastwood speaking at an SDLP event on aftermath of June’s EU referendum
SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood MLA has welcomed Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s plan to convene an all-island conversation on Brexit later this year.
Mr Eastwood said that defending the interests of people on this island, North and South, requires cross party and cross community cooperation.
He said: “The SDLP welcomes the Taoiseach’s all-island initiative on Brexit. The day after the referendum, Mark Durkan MP first proposed an All-Party Forum to consider the wide ranging implications of Brexit on the people of Ireland.
“The disastrous approach of the British Government to this challenge makes that proposal all the more critical in order to establish coherence and consensus on an all-island response.
“Theresa May’s government risks sinking an axe of simplicity into the layered complexities of the Irish political process.
“We are now desperately in need of an Irish solution to a European problem.
“All parties across this island should engage with the Taoiseach’s initiative in November.
“The people of Ireland endorsed a European context to our peace process in 1998.
“The people of Northern Ireland voted to defend our place in Europe in June. We must all now defend the democratically stated will of people here,” added the Foyle MLA.
