Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams is redefining Irish republicanism to be relevant for the post-conflict future, the Irish Times reports.

“It’s worth reminding ourselves that this isn’t 1798. This isn’t 1916. This isn’t 1981. The men and women of those generations took the core principles of republicanism and modernised them and made them relevant to their own times,” he said. “That’s what we have to do – we have to take the core values of our political ethos and make them relevant to our time, and in our place of activism, whether that is in the community, in local government, in the Assembly or in the Dáil.”

Adams also wants a referendum on whether to continue partition of the six counties in the north of Ireland. The issue is getting fresh attention with Britain allowing Scotland to have a 2014 vote on whether to remain in the union. Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said it’s too soon to consider having such a referendum.

Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State were created in 1921.