I welcome the debate and the contributions from all Members of the House, as well as the varying views. As Cathaoirleach of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, I believe this is exactly the type of debate and discussion that we should be having in this House. The agreement envisages that the people of this island may one day be asked to decide on their constitutional future. It is right that we prepare for that question seriously, honestly and well in advance. The Good Friday Agreement rests on the principle of consent. Any change to the constitutional status of Northern Ireland can only happen with the agreement of a majority of its people. That principle is settled. Our task is to make sure that if people are asked to decide, they can decide with full information. That brings me to the fiscal implications. Members will have noticed that the estimates vary enormously. In 2025, researchers at Dublin City University and Ulster University published the first peer-reviewed study of the cost of unity over its first ten years. They put the cost in year one at approximately €3 billion. They found the deficit would decline gradually and end within approximately five to nine years, depending on growth. The Institute of International and European Affairs reached a very different conclusion in 2024. Professor John FitzGerald and Professor Edgar Morgenroth estimated a basic cost of close to €11 billion a year. If wages, welfare and pensions in the North were raised immediately to southern levels, their figure rose above €20 billion. Clearly, there is a very considerable gap between the two studies. The studies make different assumptions about pensions and the UK national debt, and very different assumptions about how quickly the Northern economy could grow and converge with our own. That is the honest position. The true scale of the cost is yet unknown. Anyone who claims certainty on the figure is not being straight with anybody. It would be a mistake for any of us in this House to pick the study that suits our argument and set the rest aside. Some speakers have suggested that the money is not the first consideration, and I agree. Identity, belonging and reconciliation are matters of the heart as much as the national balance sheet. Voters from all traditions, however, will want to know where they stand before they go to the polls. That is not crude accounting; that is respect for the electorate. We should certainly do what we can now, and I am suggesting three things. First, we should build an evidence base. Much reference has been made today to the shared island unit in the Department of the Taoiseach, which has published extensive research on two economies, two labour markets, education, health and other areas. The Department of Finance's 2024 paper Shared Island, Shared Economy sets out the facts plainly. Productivity in Northern Ireland is in line with that in our Border and midlands regions, well behind the economy as a whole. Public sector employment accounts for 33% of jobs in the North, against a much lower figure here. The North has a far higher share of people with no formal qualifications, and there are gaps in opportunities any future arrangement would have to address. There are also gaps that we can start closing now through greater co-operation and engagement. Second, we should build prosperity in the meantime. The Government has announced €377 million in new shared island investment across 12 cross-Border projects. Some €193 million will upgrade the Dublin–Belfast–Derry rail lines between 2027 and 2030. A further €35 million will continue the hourly Dublin–Belfast Enterprise train service. That service doubled rail connectivity between our two largest cities and grew passenger numbers by 40% in its first year. There is also €33 million for a new water quality programme for Lough Neagh, €30 million to complete the Ulster Canal, and €13.5 million for early learning and childcare, including 1,000 upskilling places for early years educators. That is what practical co-operation looks like. It benefits communities North and South today, irrespective of the constitutional future people choose tomorrow. It is important that we recognise the success of that co-operation today. The third point is that we must keep asking the right questions. That is very important regarding pensions, debt, transition arrangements and the shape of any agreement with the UK. The assumptions that drive every estimate deserve rigorous independent scrutiny long before any referendum is called. I ask the Taoiseach and, indeed, the Minister for Finance to continue and expand the shared island research programme so the fiscal questions raised in this House today are answered with evidence rather than assertion. The unity of the Irish people, achieved by consent and through reconciliation, is a founding aspiration of my party. We pursue it by building trust, deepening co-operation and delivering for communities on both sides of the Border.

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