Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I just want to commend Ms DeSouza on the reference she made to people of a unionist persuasion who are now forced, in effect, to give up their British citizenship in order to avail of other citizenship to effect rights. Everything in Northern Ireland is unfortunately contested, and there is contested identity, and it is contested territory. It is very important - this is not an obligation on Ms DeSouza, but on all of us - to try to communicate to the unionist population as well that this is of benefit to everyone living in Northern Ireland, because if there is going to be referendum change in years to come, we all must recognise that the unionist population in Northern Ireland is entitled to remain identifying as British. That is a big issue that is going to have to be dealt with, and we need to communicate that more. One of the problems we have sometimes on the nationalist side of this island is that we spend a lot of time talking to ourselves, and that is no criticism of Ms DeSouza. She is fighting for her rights as an individual, but as politicians we sometimes converse too much with ourselves, and we need to communicate the benefits of Ms DeSouza's interpretation of the agreement to the unionist population so that it knows there is protection for its British identity in the long run. I would like to thank Ms DeSouza for coming in, and I commend her on the case she is taking.