The Reform Group is an organisation based in Dublin that seeks to have Ireland rejoin the Commonwealth of Nations.
History The group was launched in 1998 as The Reform MovementThe Reform Movement (newsletter, example of then name usage) shortly after the successful referendum ratifying the Good Friday Agreement and describing itself as a coalition of "new unionists for the new millennium".New Unionist Lobby Group set up in Republic, The Irish Times, 26 May 1998
A number of its founders, such as Anne Holliday, had been members of the anti-republican group, New Consensus.Founder member of New Consensus peace group, The Irish Times, 16 April 2011 At its launch, the group called for:
support for the creation of the British–Irish Council as set out in the Good Friday Agreement the extension of full British citizenship rights to those who sought it in Ireland the appointment of a senior official in the Department of the Taoiseach with special responsibility for minority affairs legislative change so that five of the 11 Senators currently nominated by the Taoiseach would be drawn from minority groups in Ireland State support for Ulster Scots speakers increased resources for the Garda Síochána to help it tackle crime and terrorism
The group claims to be a voice for "alternative viewpoints" of "Irishmen and Irishwomen who do not fit in the seamless definition" of nationalist or unionist.FAQ reform.org Archived April 2009 It has previously voiced support for citizens of Ireland being given the right to apply for British passports. The group has also expressed views that are critical of the status of the Irish language. Aims of The Reform Movement, ReformGroup.blog
In May 2010, the group launched a book called, Ireland and the Commonwealth: Towards Membership. Speaking at the launch were independent Senator David Norris, writer Mary Kenny and Trinity College professor Robert Martin, all of whom stated their support for Ireland rejoining the Commonwealth. It was described in The Phoenix magazine as a "ridiculous Unionist ginger group".
Logo At its inception and for some years afterwards, the "badge" or logo of The Reform Group was Saint Patrick's Cross, a white flag with a red saltire.The Reform Movement Newsletter, Spring/Summer 2004 wherein it states in reference to the red saltire cross badge"It is seen amongst others in the arms of Queens University, the Royal Irish Academy, The Royal College of Surgeons, and of course in the badge of the Reform Movement." This was a controversial choice of symbolThe Reform Movement Newsletter, Spring/Summer 2004 wherein it states "THE CROSS of Saint Patrick remains as controversial today as it has been for centuries." as the authenticity of the symbol as one representing Ireland has often been debated.The Reform Movement Newsletter, Spring/Summer 2004 wherein it states "Given all this evidence, it is not possible to dismiss the authenticity the Cross of Saint Patrick in 1783. No-one has ever produced definitive evidence either way and it is lightly the flag will continue to remain something of a mystery.
References