SDLP Leader of the Opposition Matthew O’Toole has said that name-calling and slurs from the Alliance Party will not detract from the fact that the only viable route back in to the EU is a new Ireland.
He was speaking after an SDLP Opposition Day motion on rejoining the EU was defeated in the Assembly on Monday, after Alliance MLAs abstained and barely half of Sinn Féin MLAs turned up to vote in what is thought to be the first ever explicit motion on a new Ireland in the Assembly.
South Belfast MLA Mr O’Toole said:
“The SDLP Opposition presented the Assembly today with a hopeful and clear-eyed proposition today: that nearly a decade on from the disastrous act of self-harm that was the Brexit vote the only viable way back in the EU is via a new Ireland as per the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
“The Alliance Party cannot run away from this argument as they did tonight when they refused to debate the issue with me on a political television programme. Their failure to show up and articulate their arguments is an insult to pro-European people in Northern Ireland.
“It was also hugely disappointing to see so few Sinn Féin MLAs turning out to support our motion. Barely half of their MLAs turned up to vote for what we think is the first substantive motion on a new Ireland that Stormont has debated.”
ENDS
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