Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that Professor Todd is not a politician, but she did not respond to my question on attitudes in the North. One could be angered by the fact that they are more concerned about extracting more from the British Exchequer for their budget than they are about the critical issues we in the South are addressing. It reinforces my attitude to Northern Ireland politics that, for example, Scotland is able to engage in the debate about the role of Britain in Europe and its role as a result of the referendum.

I would like to expand on the dynamic referred to by the Chairman. The DUP is pro-British and pro-establishment, but is it pro-Europe? Sinn Féin will not take up its seats, yet its members profess that their number one aim in life is to create a united Ireland. We know for a fact that Sinn Féin are eurosceptics. Unless we can see into the minds of Sinn Féin and the DUP we will never get a handle on what direction they as a statelet wish to go. It worries me, given that this is our last meeting on this issue, that we have not engaged with forces across the Border on the issues we are addressing, the consequences of which we are very worried about. Is there any way we can bring to the attention of the Assembly in Northern Ireland that we have been addressing this issue now for many months while they have just sat around in their little cocoon?