Lisa Chambers (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On governance, which Professor Maher referred to in her statement, can she offer a view on the rolling consent mechanism? Every four years a vote must be taken by the assembly. Some safeguards have been inserted into the provisions which mean, effectively, that one side cannot scupper the other. If, for example, the assembly is collapsed and Stormont is not sitting, nothing changes and the status quois maintained. If the assembly is sitting but one side choose not to engage, the status quois maintained by the majority of those who attend and vote. My view is that we are relying on an inherently unreliable political system to maintain a frictionless Border on the island. That gives me cause for concern. We are also relying on the demographics, if I can put it that way, being in our favour and the assembly representing the views we would like it to represent in terms of maintaining the status quo. If we accept that the vote every four or potentially every eight years is legitimate, we must also accept that such a vote could go the other way. Does Professor Maher agree with that assessment?

My next question concerns the complexities of politics in Northern Ireland, given how fraught and strained those politics are, particularly in the context of Brexit. I will give a practical example. Let us say the DUP decides not to attend for the vote, which would mean a significant proportion of unionist representation is not engaging. I can foresee a difficulty with the legitimacy of that vote. Technically, it is legal because all of the rules have been followed but I can see such a scenario causing problems because it is Northern Ireland. I would welcome Professor Maher's views on that.