SDLP wants Irish ministry to prepare for border poll

The leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) has called on the Irish government to create a ministry for a "new Ireland" in order to plan for a future referendum on Irish unity.

Claire Hanna made the remarks at the party's annual conference in Belfast, her second since becoming leader of the SDLP last year.

She told the conference that governments in both Dublin and London must do more now to begin "planning for the future".

She said she did not believe in setting an "arbitrary deadline" for a border poll but that with UK politics changing, things could not remain in a "constitutional waiting room".

The SDLP is the official opposition in the Northern Ireland Assembly, which was restored in 2024 after a two-year hiatus.

Hanna said political parties are "supposed to find the paths" to navigate problems.

"We have to be pushing further, creating what comes next - because as things are now, the potential of this place has a low ceiling," she added.

She said that parties must "do the work now, the how and the why - so that when the time does come, we are prepared" for a border poll.

"Free beer tomorrow isn't a manifesto, but neither is endlessly waiting for the fruit to ripen," Hanna said.

"So, my call is simple. To the Irish and British governments - now is the moment to begin planning for the future.

"Give a new Ireland the focus it deserves with a new ministry in the south. Create a structure for all-island dialogue."

Executive parties 'allergic to responsibility'

Hanna, the MP for South Belfast and Mid Down, also said that Northern Ireland's successes are "in spite of government here, certainly not because of it".

She also accused the main power-sharing parties of being "allergic to responsibility and holding back progress".

The Northern Ireland Executive, which takes decisions on policy, is jointly led by Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP).

The Alliance Party and the Ulster Unionists also have ministries in it.

The SDLP leader told her conference that the executive "punts big decisions into the long grass and never seems far from collapse".

"People deserve a government that has their back," Hanna added.

"While some of us aspire to a different future, that doesn't mean Stormont can't address the problems of the present.

"In our role as the official opposition, we are driving forward accountability from the big four parties in the executive to show how to build something better and new."