SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood has said that is it unwise to reduce a reunified Ireland to simply a numbers game.
The Foyle MLA said: “The Good Friday Agreement gives prominence to the principle of consent affirming the right to bring about a United Ireland by referenda.
!The legitimacy of that aspiration and the right for the people of Ireland to exercise our right to self-determination on the basis of consent must be respected and protected.
“It would be unwise to attempt to re-negotiate the principle of consent at the heart of the Good Friday Agreement. It is what the Irish people, North and South, signed up to in 1998.
“It is equally unwise to reduce a reunified Ireland to simply a numbers game.
“The real challenge is to shape what a new and agreed Ireland will look like and how we can deliver that for the good of all our citizens.
!That is the challenge that all of us, north and south who believe in a new Ireland, must rise to.
“While the SDLP continue to work as persuaders for unity and want to see the largest possible endorsement across the island, but the Good Friday Agreement provides that a simple majority is the mechanism,” added the SDLP leader.
