I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this Bill, for the event in the audiovisual room today and for making us feel welcome. Peace and partnership on this island was not built around a single document, declaration or day but as a gradual process of dialogue, agreements and framework-building, a process that demonstrated time and again that neither violence nor coercion would ever unite us. There is no doubt in my mind that we are living in a period of constitutional reappraisal but it has been decisions taken in Britain, not on this island, that have brought constitutional questions back to the forefront of public debate. If there is to be another chapter in the constitutional story of this island, it should not be driven by decisions taken elsewhere. It should be shaped here as an expression of the hopes, ambitions and aspirations of the people who share this island. The legitimate questions many people in Northern Ireland are asking about the future cannot be ignored, their frustration with repeated political stalemate and the impact Brexit has had on how they see their place in these islands and in Europe. If you are ask people to consider constitutional change, whether they live in Castleknock or Castlederg, we cannot speak only to their sense of identity or longing but to their everyday lives, jobs, healthcare, pensions, their children's education and their economic security. The lesson of the peace process is not simply that an agreement was reached but how an agreement was reached - patient dialogue, partnership and building confidence before asking people to make profound constitutional choices. I served on the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement with some of my colleagues here today, whose work is referenced in this Bill, the recommendations of which I agree with. They were much broader than this Bill suggests, however, which is why it reached consensus. The committee recognised the scale of preparing for constitutional change - not simply ending partition but imagining how a new and agreed Ireland might work in practice. I want us to be true to that work. This Bill proposes an 18-month consultation period to produce a Green Paper, followed by a citizens' assembly, within a fixed statutory timeline. I understand the desire to begin preparing. I share that impatience. I want us to work towards a Green Paper together but I do not believe we strengthen that preparation by placing deadlines on it, nor do I believe that a citizens' assembly - valuable though that model has been on other issues - can by itself shape the future constitutional settlement of an entire island. The conversation must be broader. It must invite new ideas and voices and every tradition to help shape what a new and agreed Ireland could become, not through deadlines but dialogue because that is what has worked before. It is about working in partnership and with respect. I want to work with everyone in this House to do that.

Sentiment score: 0.32