Ms Una Boyd:

Yes, I would just like to say that the engagement and the stance taken by the Irish Government, as Ms DeSouza said, was incredibly helpful and very strong, and we would like to see that continue and increase. We can see clearly in this Upper Tribunal decision, and in the Home Office arguments, the stance that the UK Government is taking, which is this idea that the citizenship provisions were never enacted because that was the clear intention of the drafters - that there was no need and the British Nationality Act has always been in compliance with the Good Friday Agreement. That is not even touching on the fact that UK policy and practice does not follow the Good Friday Agreement. It does not reflect that, but the Irish Government following the Good Friday Agreement made significant legislative change to enact the citizenship provisions and it would be good to see a strong stance coming from the Irish Government on what the intention of the provisions were, and coming back against that argument that it is inconceivable that this is what it intended. If this is the stance that the British Government is going to take, I would like to see a strong stance against that from the Irish Government, particularly in reflecting its own legislative actions, and perhaps on a smaller scale it would be good to see engagement with the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission's report and fresh calls for the Northern Ireland bill of rights. Those are really increasing, and it would be good to see the Irish Government engage meaningfully with that as well.