Dr. Duncan Morrow:

There have been many important points raised. To answer Deputy Brendan Smith, the issue at the heart of this is that the Brexit discussion was largely carried out on an economic basis but it goes to the heart of relationships and fundamental relationships are critical to creating stability around which economics can happen. My concern in terms of the Good Friday Agreement is that we have not been serious about examining what damage could be done to relationships. The experience of fragile political communities throughout Northern Ireland, which is nothing if not a fragile political community, is that "Events, dear boy, events" are what cause the damage, particularly if taken by surprise by these things. These things move at a remarkable speed once they start to escalate. Nobody wants it. It is extremely clear nobody wishes it. What worries me is that if we do not pay attention to it, it will catch us unawares. All of a sudden there will be a border, and people will react in different ways to that or discussions will be conducted under very extreme circumstances. We need to get ahead of this now, stop the gushy language that has been mentioned and instead become really quite serious about this.

To be quite serious about it, what are the consequences of a hard border? It may be able to negotiate an alternative to a hard border. However, one potential scenario might be that there is a very highly policed frontier, precisely where a hard policing frontier is what is resisted by the population. Another possibility is it is not policed, it is abandoned and so becomes a kind of smuggling zone, an area of lawlessness. Neither of those are desirable from anybody's point of view. What are we putting in place as an alternative to these two scenarios that would make sense in terms of identity? It is not just about whether Ireland needs to come up with solutions. It is urgently important as part of Brexit that the nature of that Border is discussed in order to avoid those potential consequences, not just to talk about freedom of movement of goods. It is very important, particularly to the communities living beside that Border.

While I do not have the exact number of people who commute daily to do some or all of their business in the other jurisdiction, in Donegal, in Derry, in Louth, in south Down and so on, there is certainly a kind of integrated economy which moves across that Border. What happens to those specific areas and the communities in them? That community dimension at first instance is economic but the outrage about it becomes non-economic and turns into a political grievance. There is no simple boundary between the economic and the grievance. The critical thing is that this does not become another ground for grievance. Northern Ireland was historically described as the factory of grievances. We have done quite a lot of work trying to avoid and reverse that. I want to make sure that any potential for that is headed off early rather than too late, because trying to deal with it once the horse has bolted is worse.

There are two elements to that. One is that it should not to be added on at the end with deliberate ignorance, as was mentioned earlier. I do not know if that is true but what I do know is that we cannot afford it to be such ignorance. I am concerned that the fear of Brexit in Northern Ireland, for which is there is no consensus, will prevent solutions to this issue emerging in time or at all. Those of us who see this as potentially occurring need it identified and somehow put onto the table in a way that people can begin to practically move forward on it.

In regard to the importance of the European Union, I very much hope that it is a central element of what the EU does. The European Union will maintain a citizenship interest in Northern Ireland potentially for all of its citizens after Brexit. Potentially every single person born in Northern Ireland will remain an EU citizen. The EU does not, any more than Ireland, actually exit the citizenship protection rights on that part of the territory. I am not sure that the legal, constitutional and civic implications of that have been fully worked through. What does that mean? Does the European Union, through Ireland, have a specific interest in protecting its citizens in Northern Ireland or does it not? What would be the case if there were a hard border scenario with British, Irish or both in a hard border? I agree it is potentially exaggerated. Everybody just says no, it will not happen, which is exactly what I do not want to hear. It is not that I hope that it does happen; it is that I think we need to look at what happens in different circumstances in a more matter of fact way. It could potentially be necessary to obtain a visa on an Irish passport if one is travelling from Dublin Airport to one's home in south Down. That is an absurd scenario and it will not occur but I do not want that exploited by people who start talking about fears. I absolutely think we need to have it named and we have to get it off the table. We have to name it not to put it on the table but to get it off the table, because it is in the practical, at the community level and at Northern Ireland level, that this starts to fuel the factory of grievances. It is in the practical that we have to be serious about it.

Today is an opportunity for me to say the implications for reconciliation are very important. It is not a question of trying to be alarmist or trying to exaggerate. It is a question of trying to say that unless we begin to imagine what the potential issues are, they will creep up on us, they will catch us unawares and they will be serious.