BOTH SINN FÉIN and the SDLP have welcomed plans to create a new government body to engage with “hard evidence” on different constitutional frameworks around Irish unity.

Earlier this week, Taoiseach Micheál Martin remarked that a new approach would first “define what needs to be known” so that people can engage in “informed debate” about proposals for the future.

Martin said action is needed to “develop a rigorous, independent and dispassionate base of knowledge on which you can have a credible discussion about constitutional futures”.

He added: “A new initiative is required to do the significant work required.

“This must ensure that the public has access to independent, trustworthy and comprehensive information about the practical implications, legal, social, economic, cultural and political of different possible constitutional frameworks.”

He said there was a need for “a new approach” which enjoys cross-community support while “framing an evidence base on what is involved in a new constitutional framework”.

Martin today told the Irish Times that a new government body is to be established to examine models for potential “constitutional futures”, including Irish unity.

He said the initial steps in establishing this new body would be taken in the coming months.

Sinn Féin Leader Mary Lou McDonald said she “welcomed the Taoiseach’s intention to bring a memorandum to Government on Ireland’s constitutional future”.

She said this is an “important and welcome step” and that “preparations for Irish unity must now advance with urgency, backed by concrete action, a clear timetable and the resources necessary”.

McDonald said that ending partition would “build a stronger economy, deliver better public services and create a fairer, reconciled society across the whole island”.

She added that “preparing for that future is an urgent responsibility” and that the Irish government must “lead the work of developing a credible, practical proposition for unity that can secure support, north and south”.

“That means answering people’s questions about healthcare, education, jobs, pensions, public services and their rights,” said McDonald.

She added that “we want people from a unionist background to help shape a new Ireland”.

“Their British identity and traditions must be respected and protected, and their concerns and aspirations must be heard and taken seriously,” said McDonald.

“Everyone must have a meaningful opportunity to contribute, including those who support the union and those who have yet to make up their minds.”

Meanwhile, SDLP leader Claire Hanna also welcomed the move and said her party “will work with the Irish Government to turn ambition into practical preparation”.

She described it as a “significant and welcome intervention” and an “important step forward in the conversation about a new Ireland”.

Hanna added that the SDLP “has consistently called for the Irish Government to take a leading role in preparing for constitutional change”.

Her party has called for a “dedicated Minister for a New Ireland to drive that work across government”.

Party colleague Colum Eastwood meanwhile said this is “very welcome news, particularly for those of us who have been repeatedly arguing that the Irish Government needs to take a leading role”.

He said the new body, within the Department of the Taoiseach, will have “the resources to bring together academics, experts and others to carry out research and look at potential scenarios around the key issues involving the creation of a new state”.

Eastwood said he also welcomes “the commitment to seek the views of unionists and look at how they will be affected by any change to our constitutional arrangements”.

“It’s no longer something for the future, but something to be planned for in the here and now,” added Eastwood.