Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have a conversation in the Houses of the Oireachtas on achieving the goal of an united Ireland. The pathway towards that goal has been laid clearly after decades of negotiated positions and making sure there will be no more bloodshed, leaving people maimed or dead on the streets, either in the North, Dublin city centre or the cities of England. I have no problem in having a forthright debate here, but anything that goes outside the parameters of a negotiated position between the two Governments cannot be endorsed by the Houses of the Oireachtas.

There is significant work being done by Members inside these walls, including Senator Mark Daly who has been working consistently on the issue, privately going to meet members of the unionist community on a monthly basis, attending and briefing meetings in Orange halls on the issue. These things are not talked about. Documents have also been laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas indicating what the structures of an united Ireland would look like and how much they would benefit the economy as a whole as opposed to a partitioned state.

Deputy Mitchell talked about the conversations happening in towns across the country. She is 100% correct. It happened in our town, where last year on this very issue in front of a couple of hundred people Deputy Tóbín, the Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy English, and I had a conversation, moderated by Seán Boylan, whose father was an operative for Michael Collins at the time of the creation of the Irish Free State. The public is engaging in that conversation.

This morning the former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, a primary negotiator of the Good Friday Agreement, appeared before a select committee in the Houses of Parliament at Westminster. When asked by one MP how he thought the Irish people would feel about "rejoining" the United Kingdom, I think he said in a kind way, "not a lot." He has spoken about the fact that we do not need to see a hardening of the two sectarian positions in achieving the goal of an united Ireland in a settlement that would be acceptable to all sides.

In the context of initiating plans, there is a mountain of work to be done in the background before we would even get to the position where a Border poll could be held. Some 12 years ago I remember taking part in a peace and reconciliation tour to the Peace Tower as part of the First World War commemorations. There were marching bands from both sides of the community, including one from County Cavan and and one from County Tyrone from the unionist community. I got to talk to some of its members over lunch. They did not even know where County Meath was. I might as well have said I was from somewhere in America.