Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I apologise to Dr. Byrne for missing his contribution, as I was in the Chamber for statements on justice, but I read it in advance of the meeting. Listening to the conversation and where it has inevitably gone is indicative of where society, North and South, is at. We are gravitating towards the issue of unity and reunification because of the very obvious political dynamics at play all around us. Mr. Hazzard said far more eloquently much of what I would hope to have said. I do not know if Dr. Byrne would agree, but I find this recoil from the debate on reunification is primarily at a political level. I live in and have the privilege of representing one of the most contentious, notorious - or whatever cliché one wants to attach to it - interfaces in the North of Ireland. Touch wood that I am not tempting fate, but I do not see any evidence off the back of all of the recent polls, or in the statements going back and forward, of any reversal in the trenches or people being at each other's throats. All of the work done through the flag protest, which was one of the most difficult territories we found ourselves in, has been sustained and is ongoing. Loyalists will attend Féile an Phobail here in a couple of weeks and have debates with their republican counterparts, in the way they have over the past 20 or more years of the peace process. In my experience at a civic, community and, increasingly, business and economic level, people are starting to think about unity in a way they never have before. It is an abdication of our responsibilities and commitment to the Good Friday Agreement if we try to discourage people from doing so. We should be facilitating this type of national dialogue. We should be emboldening and empowering it.

Within this specific question of reunification, where does Dr. Byrne see the role of academia? Does he agree academics have not been as involved domestically, whether through research or whatever, in comparison with some of their international counterparts who are looking at this? What value does Dr. Byrne put on this? It is crucial that we have the world of academia arguing for and against to provide us with the necessary detail and information we will need.