James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My thanks to our guests from the shared island unit. I wish them every success in their project. It is a great opportunity for this committee to work with them and it is an exciting time to be a part of the new initiative. I had a quick review of the Taoiseach's speech. I was logged in to the Dublin Castle event some weeks ago. The discussion that followed with the stakeholders was interesting as well. Even that, in itself, was part of the journey.

The Taoiseach mentioned three things. He talked about the dialogue series that will be commenced. I understand it will bring together stakeholders from different strands to begin that process of dialogue. One thing has been central to the Good Friday Agreement from the outset and it is also central to the shared island initiative. This is the relationship in different directions, including North-South and the east-west relationships. Where are we at with regard to the dialogue series and the east-west relationship as well as the North-South relationship? What does the unit see as being a timeline? What are the next steps in the coming 12 or 24 months? Where does it go? How does it take shape? I am interested in that. I appreciate that this may be yet to be defined to an extent and that all of us who have a contribution to make will help to shape it. Where is that at the moment?

The Taoiseach said something which I thought was interesting and true. From the different contributors we already see different people bringing different perspectives, and often these are geographic. One point the Taoiseach made in his speech was that a person's view on this may differ depending on what part of the country he is in or what part of the island he is on. It may depend on what county and place and what traditional leaning a person may have. This is paramount for everyone in every corner of the island, whether in the farthest-flung corner of the south west or the top of the north east. Whether a person is a Border representative or otherwise, I see this as being fundamental to the entire island and across the island, although that is a personal view. In terms of timelines, as far as we can today what are the next steps? What do they look like in the coming 12 to 24 months?