I welcome this debate. Such a debate has been needed for quite a long time. The reality is that for many people, the issue of the financial implications of Irish unity has been used as a put-down to try to smother or put a stop to argument and debate. This is a welcome way in which we can open that up. This debate is really about the opportunities that Irish unification would offer as opposed to the difficulties that might arise. There are opportunities, particularly in the agriculture sector, which I deal with most. I speak to farmers in the North all the time. They see the implications of unity. I meet them at the marts in the South when they are moving animals across the Border. All of those things have difficulties and constraints they should not have. Of course, we have the areas of natural constraint payments that most farmers on this side of the Border avail of. Unfortunately, those payments are no longer available in the North. Sinn Féin has recommended that the payments should be restored. Farmers need support. Brexit took their support away. Brexit took people north of the Border out of the European Union against their will. That placed a sharp focus on the prospect of reunification and what it could deliver for people. Much has been said about the shared island unit, which has done some magnificent work. However, the Taoiseach explicitly stated from the start that this unit was not a vehicle for constitutional change. We need such a vehicle. We need a means by which we can have discussions like this. A debate here for a couple of hours is fine, but I remember being involved in some of the deep talks with people in the early days of the peace process. We sat in rooms and talked about reconciliation. I met Garret FitzGerald on many occasions at the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation. All sorts of people from across society, North and South, came together, not just for a couple of hours now and again but for days on end, to discuss the issues and go through the problems and difficulties that peace would entail. It was about a process. That is what we need to develop now, namely a process relating to reunification, as opposed to just having a debate on the odd occasion. This is why the Bill we put forward last week is so important. It is so disappointing that it did not attract support. I hope Government will reflect on that and recognise that we need to build a process. There is an energy for reunification among ordinary people the length and breadth of the country. This is about the physical constraints, but is also about identity. Many people who live on this island have a British identity. If we are to have a free country, they have to be free to express that identity. We can all stand up for that.

Sentiment score: 0.13