The Eire Nua program, initially proposed by Republican Sinn Fein in 1972, would as a basic requirement, reunite the British occupied six counties of Ireland with the rest of Ireland in an all-Ireland federation comprised of the four historic provinces of Ulster, Munster, Leinster and Connacht. This comprehensive and far-reaching program is in stark contrast to British imposed arrangements such as the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921, Sunningdale, Hillsborough and the Good Friday Agreement, all calculated to copper-fasten and legitimize British control over the occupied six counties of Ireland.
The British imposed Government of Ireland Act of 1920 coupled with the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 partitioned the Irish nation into two dominion states of the British Empire, the 26-county Irish Free State and the six-county Northern Ireland State. This British enforced arrangement was the most insidious of all the treacherous acts perpetrated on the Irish nation, it not only divided Ireland; it also divided its people. As a consequence, it denied the people of different religions and traditions the opportunity to work together to build a nation in which they both could prosper and live in peace. Instead, as intended this insidious arrangement perpetuated direct British control over the occupied six counties and indirect control over the twenty-six county Irish Free State.
Any political program that does not include the reunification of the Irish nation as a prerequisite is meaningless and doomed to failure from the start.
The Eire Nua program authored by the late Daithi O'Conaill, Ruairi O'Bradaigh and others is visionary in concept and far reaching in that it includes all of Ireland. It offers a solution that guarantees equality and the maximum distribution of authority at provincial and subsidiary levels in a unitary federal system comprising the four provinces of Ireland. It views the war in the North not as a religious conflict but as an ongoing effort to remove the last vestiges of colonialism. It sets forth specific conditions to start the process of reconciliation and unity including;
A British declaration of intent to withdraw from Ireland,
The convening of a constitutional convention to draft a new all-Ireland constitution
The unconditional release of all political prisoners, and 4) a British withdrawal.
The proposed all-Ireland constitution embodies the following fundamental principles,
A Charter of Rights that would clearly define the rights and privileges to be accorded to each and every individual.
New Governments Structures that would embody a system of power sharing administered at the national, provincial, county / district government levels.
The Separation of Church and State would guarantee the various religious denominations the freedom to attend to the spiritual needs of their adherents. By the same token, the government would not be in the business of legislating morality.
An Independent Judiciary that would ensure that the nations' Supreme Court, as guardian of the constitution, would have equal status to the legislative and executive branches of government. The judicial power of the nation would be vested in the Supreme Court.
The NIFC consider the Eire Nua program to be innovative and far-reaching and believes it to be a positive approach that recognizes the rights of all Irish people, irrespective of their ancestry or religious affiliations. For this reason the NIFC has adopted and will promote Eire Nua as the most logical choice to achieve a lasting peace for Ireland. We believe that this program is based on sound and honorable principles incorporating fair and realistic plans to achieve national unity within the framework of a 32-county Irish Republic.
