Professor Colin Harvey:

I thank the Deputy for her questions. To respond to the first, regarding the agreement, whatever happens in the time ahead, and we are in very challenging times, that is where we will all end up again. When people use the language, which they do in the Brexit discussion, of the Good Friday Agreement "in all its parts", it means what it says: the Good Friday Agreement in all its institutional parts and in all the values reflected in the agreement. These islands will end up back there because it is a sophisticated document that deals with the totality of relationships that will need to be repaired and rebuilt in the time ahead. It remains unimplemented in many significant ways and is under strain, but what has been remarkable about the Brexit conversation is that although there have been some slightly interesting interpretations of the agreement, there seems to be universal endorsement of it and an agreement that we need to get back to it and back to making it work and that we can do so. The committee knows that the North of this island has been through some challenging and tough times. I think it is possible to make progress on that.

Academically, political points are being made about all this stuff but, in a very boring sense, one theme of the critique of the protocol has been the issue of democratic participation. One way in which that is being addressed is through this mechanism that has been put in in respect of the assembly. I am just highlighting that there is a discussion as to whether this also means there needs to be a continuing Northern Ireland voice within the European Union in some way, including in the European Parliament. I say this just to highlight that that conversation has been ongoing. I refer, for example, to work showing that it would be possible for the Irish Government to deal with voting rights issues. There are also mechanisms such as observer status for people in Northern Ireland to ensure there is some form of continuing participation.

We are potentially heading into never-ending forms of negotiation at multiple levels all at the same time. There is obviously the issue of re-establishing our power-sharing institutions in Northern Ireland. There will be an ongoing conversation between the European Union and the UK because, as we know, the withdrawal agreement and the protocol are just the beginning - I am sure we are all delighted about that - of a long conversation about the future relationship and where it will go. When negotiations are ongoing, it is always possible to find ways in which some of these reform proposals can be implemented practically.

Although I may sound rather despairing today, on this island we have gone to places that in the past people would never have expected us to go, and remarkable things have happened. We are in a challenging and difficult moment. I do not want to do anything here that would underplay that, but nor do I want to do anything that would talk us into an even worse space. The things I am outlining and which we have talked about today can be done. There are proposals to take a number of them forward. I think they will benefit people on both parts of this island so I remain optimistic that progress on all these issues is possible in the time ahead. The committee can tell me whether or not that optimism is wildly misjudged. If, however, we do not frame this within a more comprehensive human rights framework, we will store up problems for the future.

One point made in the report we talked about earlier, which got rather lost in the public conversation, is that we have real anxieties about the rights of British citizens on this island in the future arrangements. It is important that those rights are protected in the future, and the birthright guarantee speaks to that. The UK will be a third country, essentially, outside the European Union, with all that that means for British citizens in the future. There is, therefore, a need for specific conversations and a discussion about the wider human rights framework.