It is with great pleasure that I speak about this Bill. I congratulate Sinn Féin on the work it has done in putting the Bill forward. It is a very timely conversation. Preparations for a united Ireland need to start. It needs to be respectful, evidence-based and inclusive. The Social Democrats have called on the Government to establish formal structures to examine the practical implications for reunification. In order to have genuinely inclusive and respectful dialogue, it is vital that there is a framework to establish that evidence. The evidence will come from the establishment of a citizens' assembly or other such structured consultation. In my brief of further and higher education, it is great to see the shared Ireland initiative bringing so much positivity to education on the island of Ireland. The measures include the creative connections programme, the RISE programme and the brilliantly named t-rex programme, which have the objective of improving educational attainment, reducing disadvantage, increasing collaboration between schools and third level institutions, encouraging student exchanges and building relationships between people across communities and jurisdictions. I am sure that is replicated in other areas which receive funding. When I was preparing to speak, I did not think it was very useful to use this debate as a political game. This is not a political game. It is an important issue. The respect and inclusion that I spoke about start in this House. Playing politics with this issue is not acceptable. It is disrespectful to the people who have lived through trauma on this island because of that history. We need to get a grip. We all need to be part of the conversation. Playing politics and bouncing a ball from one side to the other is really unhelpful. I grew up in a mixed household. I grew up in a household with one Republican and one person who just wanted peace. My dad grew up in a mixed household. My grandmother was the daughter of a British navy man and was Protestant and my grandfather was a Catholic man from Cork who fought in the IRA during the War of Independence and the Civil War. My family is a mixed family. There are lots of mixes. There are lots of things we need to do, but what we do not need to do in this House is spend our time bouncing ideas around and dancing on the head of a pin in talking about Northern Ireland, the Republic, a united Ireland or who owns the idea. It does not matter who owns the idea. The fact of the matter is that we need a united Ireland. That is what we have all said we want. However, if we are dancing on the head of a pin and deciding who owns it and whose great idea it was or which Bill it is or is not, that is a waste of time and excludes people. It is no example to the people we are trying to encourage to have an inclusive, evidence-based and respectful dialogue. I request that people try to work together in this House and that we go outside it to try to have dialogue that is inclusive and respectful of everybody.

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