Aontú's Gemma Brolly highlights 'accountability' at annual think-in
Welcoming Aontú delegates to the city for the party’s Autumn Think-in, party deputy leader, Gemma Brolly described Derry as “a city of courage, of memory, of people who rise when times are hard and who never forget who they are. This place has shaped history, and tonight it shapes our future”.
Ms Brollly then extended a “very special welcome to the newest member of our Aontú family - Councillor Margaret Anne McKillop”.
Ms McKillop is a member of the Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council. She resigned from the SDLP in October following claims party representatives ‘celebrated the loss of unborn life’ at a conference.
“Margaret Anne McKillop is a fantastic woman,” said Gemma Brolly, “someone I have had the privilege of getting to know well over the last year. A name known around home, known for being a people person with principles, with heart, with grit. I genuinely believe this will be your true political home — a place where your integrity is not only welcome, but valued.
“Seven years ago, we began. Hard slog. Slow and steady. Days when it felt like pushing a boulder uphill. But something has shifted. You can feel it in the air. People are scunnered - fed up to the back teeth with empty promises, with polished nonsense, with the kind of political waffle you can smell from a mile away,” added Ms Brolly.
And who could blame them? Look at what people are living through. Seventeen thousand people presenting as homeless. A seventy‑nine percent increase in households trapped in temporary accommodation. Grocery prices up over forty percent. Fuel up nearly fifty percent. Medical waiting lists up forty‑four percent. Over five thousand hospital beds gone — a quarter of our hospital capacity wiped out. Electricity bills up by more than sixty percent, yet we’re told the turbines, the storage systems, the data centres are all ‘for our sake’.
“Fertiliser costs more than doubled. Meal for cattle up thirty‑five percent. Farmers in places like Fivemiletown facing the cruelty of a cattle cull that should never have been allowed to happen.
“Children with SEN Statements up forty‑six percent, and nineteen percent of all pupils now on the SEND Code of Practice.
We have been mismanaged beyond comprehension. Stormont has collapsed again and again. Not by accident - but by design. Certain bodies have learned that if you mismanage a system long enough, if you grind it into dysfunction, you can collapse it and walk away without consequence. They learned that trick from Stormont,” said Ms Brolly.
Irish Unity is not a dream - it is common sense. A shared workforce. Shared resources. Shared infrastructure. A health service that works across borders instead of collapsing within them. A compassionate care policy that treats people with dignity, not delay,
“And let’s be clear - Aontú was calling for an end to the ability to collapse Stormont long before Alliance or the SDLP ever found their voices on it. We said it when it was unpopular. We said it when it was inconvenient. We said it because it was right,” she added.
“And now we have no budget. Millions in deficit. A government so incompetent it cannot even agree the basic arithmetic of public life.
“And while Scotland raises around twenty‑three percent of the money it spends, Wales raises around ten percent, Northern Ireland raises only six. We are treated like a child given pocket money — told to be grateful, told not to ask questions, told not to expect more.
“But we are not children. We are a capable people. We can raise our own revenue. We can plan our own future. We can stand on our own feet. No British Secretary of State should hold the key to our future. No one should have the power to lock us into stagnation, dependency, or constitutional limbo.
“The future belongs to the people - and the people should determine when a referendum is called. Not London. Not a Secretary of State. Us,” said Ms Brolly.
Turning to the issue of Legacy, Ms Brolly said: “While families like the family of Seán Brown still wait for justice, we are expected to accept the insult of the ICRIR - a structure that closes doors instead of opening truth. We will not accept it.
“Irish Unity is not a dream - it is common sense. A shared workforce. Shared resources. Shared infrastructure. A health service that works across borders instead of collapsing within them. A compassionate care policy that treats people with dignity, not delay,” she added.
“Aontú’s vision is practical, grounded, humane. It is not about egos - it is about futures.What makes us different is simple. We are ordinary people. We believe in better. We act from principle, not convenience. We carry compassion, not calculation. We are the modern heirs of the United Irishmen -Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter - and here in Doire, of all places, that spirit still lives.
“A spirit that says the people matter, fairness matters, justice matters.
“We work hard. We listen. We use common sense - that rarest political commodity.
“And now, we plan. We plan a future worthy of our children. We plan a country that works. We plan a movement that speaks for people who have been ignored for far too long.
“Aontú is not here to whisper. We are here to be a voice - strong, steady, principled - for every person who has been left behind by the chaos of mismanagement.
This is our time. Let’s build the future together — and let’s make sure the people of Ireland are heard, loudly and clearly, in every room where decisions are made.Ar aghaidh linn le chéile! “