Elected unionists avoid SDLP conference on 'Abolition of Northern Ireland' in Belfast - 'The Future of these Islands: Preparing for Change'
Unionists have queried the value of an SDLP conference about what they branded "the abolition of Northern Ireland" after it was confirmed that it featured no elected unionists.
The conference, 'The Future of these Islands: Preparing for Change' took place in the MAC Arts Centre yesterday.
However SDLP leader Claire Hanna anticipated criticism regarding the absence of elected unionists, saying many were invited but chose not to attend.
Panellists included former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar; SNP MSP Stephen Gethins; Former Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford; Irish Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan; Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts; Sinn Féin Senator Conor Murphy and Baroness Sue Gray.
Former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams tweeted from the audience that it was "a good initiative”.
While no elected unionists took part, panellists included ex-UUP councillor Linzi McLaren, former Irish Senator Ian Marshall and loyalist activist Joel Keys.
Eight months ago, former Presbyterian Moderator Norman Hamilton demanded an apology from the SDLP after he discovered on a podcast that he and others had been "discarded" from the SDLP's New Ireland Commission.
He told the BBC that, "if that is a commentary on how a united Ireland is going to be handled by nationalists, let's not have it".
Speaking at the MAC, Ms Hanna said Irish unification "means reconciliation; not as an event, not as a veto, but as a way of living".
She was "particularly pleased" that they had "voices from a unionist tradition" but added that "before the internet lights up to tell me there are not enough voices from political unionism today, let me say that many were invited, including all political parties, and every individual MLA."
The MLA leader argued that unification is likely and that governments should begin planning for "An Agreed Ireland" rather than waiting until a border poll is imminent.
But unionists had a different vision.
North Belfast DUP MLA Brian Kingston said: “This is just the latest in a long list of announcements from nationalists to persuade supporters that constitutional change is just around the corner.
"The aim of a respectful discussion is obviously welcome, but given it will essentially be a one-sided discussion that shouldn't be too difficult. There will be no-one on the panel pointing out inconvenient facts like the most recent polling showing support for the abolition of Northern Ireland being at a 10-year low."
UUP Deputy Leader Diana Armstrong MLA described the conference as "another talking shop preaching to the converted".
“The 'future of these islands' is as clear as it was in 1998," she said. "Northern Ireland will remain part of the United Kingdom while maintaining good relations with the Republic of Ireland, underpinned by the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement and strong British-Irish ties."
The presence of one former Ulster Unionist is "a bit of borrowed balance to dress up a room where everyone already agrees" she added.
TUV chairman, Causeway Councillor Allister Kyle, said that for a party which talks about equality and inclusion it was "telling" they couldn't muster a single elected unionist.
"This is a reflection of the fact that this event and others like it amount to nothing more than nationalist talking shops. Unionists are not interested in engagement about an all Ireland particularly when the method deployed to woo them for thirty years were the guns and bombs of the IRA."