Professor Colin Harvey:

There are credible proposals for change in the North and here also. What we are talking about today is the island of Ireland and improving the human rights of everyone here. There are credible proposals for example around constitutional reform to give socioeconomic rights a proper place in the Irish Constitution. For too long, socioeconomic rights have been treated as second-class rights here and that needs to change now. Work can be done there. The committee must acknowledge the situation in Northern Ireland - the North of this island - where there are so many lazy narratives about what is going on. The human rights and equality crisis underpinning some of the problems we face must be acknowledged. There are too many lazy and easy narratives about what is going on. If the Westminster Parliament and Government can try to legislate to take Northern Ireland out of the European Union against its consent and without political consensus, why can it not legislate for some of the human rights and equality issues we have referred to today across a range of areas, including equal marriage, reproductive rights, language rights and the bill of rights?

The prize for the Westminster Parliament in taking that stand is potentially sustainable power-sharing government for a generation in the North, even with the ongoing paralysis caused by Brexit. Firm action is required. We need to acknowledge the crisis.

I spoke about the joint committee and integrating it in the work being done. This is a terrible thing to do, but I am an Irish citizen and members can see my passport.