First it was President Trump who upended political protocol by declaring Irish reunification "a very cool thing" during his September visit to Ireland. Then An Taoiseach Micheál Martin, long a holdout in the constitutional change debate, this week green-lighted new research on Irish Unity,
They were just the two latest leaders to be caught up in the growing calls from both Ireland and from the Irish diaspora for the groundwork to be carried out to facilitate peaceful reunifcation — as provided for in the Good Friday Agreement.
And now the Irish Echo, National Newspaper of Irish America, is to contribute to the debate with the first-ever Irish Unity forum on Capitol Hill on Wednesday 2 December. (Registration for the Forum is now open here.)
On 2 December, a bipartisan slate of Representatives will join Irish American champions and representatives from Ireland to explore key questions relating to the Unity debate.
Among confirmed speakers are Congressman Richie Neal, Irish Dems founder Stella O'Leary, Baptist Minister the Rev Karen Sethurman who is a board member of the Ireland's Future organisation, and John Feehery who served as President Trump's observer to the International Fund for Ireland during his first term. 
Additional invitees include Republican Congressman Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, Congressman Jonathan Jackson of Chicago and Comptroller Tom DiNapoli of New York State — all of whom were returned to office last week. Rep. Kelly and Rep. Neal are Joint Chairmen of the Congressional Friends of Ireland Caucus.
New York podcaster Sophie Colgan will chair the Capitol Hill Forum.
Registration for the Forum, which will run from noon-1:30pm on Wednesday 2 December is now open online. Readers who wish to contribute to the costs of the Forum can do so on our Donate page.
