Dr. Alasdair McDonnell:

I thank Dr. Morrow for his comprehensive submission. While I have come to expect high standards from him, this is one of the most comprehensive documents I have read on Brexit. It would be remiss of me not to express my appreciation of the outstanding work Dr. Morrow has done on various fronts over the years. No one deserves more credit than he does for showing 24/7 commitment to peace and reconciliation. It is difficult to find a question to ask because the presentation covered so much ground. Dr. Morrow has thrown a powerful spotlight on the issue of peace and reconciliation. He is correct - I plead guilty in this regard - that we have all been panicking about the economic consequences of Brexit which are the primary issue for most people as they try to earn a living. Other issues which some of us have raised intermittently are very much secondary and Dr. Morrow's work on the issue has pushed them much further up the agenda.

We squared the circle with the Good Friday Agreement. My personal impression is that we achieved what was virtually impossible. Many benefits and consequences have flowed from the Agreement, but the dilemma is that there has been a complete failure by a new generation of mainly conservative politicians in Britain to grasp the full extent of the peace agreement or settlement or the impact of Brexit on the North of Ireland, the Republic and reconciliation in Northern Ireland and, in the broader sense, the three strands of the Agreement. In many ways, they are in total denial. I echo Deputy Declan Breathnach's comment that they are not sure what is coming. No one can be sure because the issue remains open.

My question is as much political as academic. I was lucky to be able to ask two questions of the Brexit team as it is difficult to ask a single question of it. One of my questions was on the subject on which Dr. Morrow focused, namely, how the issue of consent, the basis of the Good Friday Agreement, would be factored into Brexit. I also asked if the United Kingdom would commit to ensuring consent would be a central issue. The reply was gushing but the more gushing the reply on some of these issues, the less credible it is. I have many chats in the corridors of Westminster, for want of a better description, and much of what I hear is wishful thinking that does not always stack up.

To return to the Good Friday Agreement, are gushing reassurances worth anything if the articles of the Good Friday Agreement are not being implemented, for example, if a cross-Border body, IntertradeIreland, is not allowed to function either because it breaks down or some of our Northern brethren do not allow it to function? The problem is that we can discuss theory which is good at providing a backdrop and a framework in which to operate, but there is also a political dimension. How do we persuade the British Government that there are issues for us when its concept of Brexit is largely confined to the south east of England and does not even extend to the north of England?

Therefore, how do we hold only what we have got? How do we sustain the reconciliation we have got? How do we sustain the bit of trust we have got out of the Good Friday Agreement?