Professor Colin Harvey:

I am going to join a long queue of people who have done it. I have the passport in my pocket. I was born in Derry, but I have sold out and now live in Belfast. That is the worst thing a person from Derry can do, but I am an Irish citizen. The question for me in this conversation is the issue of my Irish identity which is about the human rights of everybody on the island. Throughout my life and career I have worked very hard for the human rights of everyone on the island, but specifically as an Irish citizen I want to know what the document actually means in practice, in terms of both Irish and European citizenship. I am Irish and European and want to know what rights I will have in the years ahead, having sold out and as someone now living and working in Belfast. Parliamentary committees, such as the Joint Committee on Justice and Equality need to hear more from people like us. More Northern voices need to be integrated into the work of this parliament and its committee system as one small step in realising some of the things about which we have talked.

I thank the Chairman and members.