Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome Professor Harvey and Mr. Bassett. I know Professor Harvey is based at Queen's University Belfast, which I attended. It is nice to engage with him. I have watched his presentations in the past and I have heard him speak a number of times. It is nice to get the opportunity to connect virtually. My worst nightmare is that we would have a border poll and we would lose.

My worst nightmare is that we would not have an inclusive island based on the visions of people like John Hume, Seamus Mallon and Austin Currie and that would alienate people. I do not want to be in a situation where the shoe is on the other foot in terms of how our community would have felt in the 1960s and 1970s. My worst nightmare would be a return to how things were in terms of losses of life and violence.

I do not believe people should apologise for being cautious about any of this. One of my questions is about where Professor Harvey sees reconciliation in all of this. I feel we have scratched the surface of the work that needs to be done regarding reconciliation. Much of the time it is talked about but it does not feel like the biggest priority all the time, and to me it should be. I would like to hear Professor Harvey's views about that. I was interested in what he had to say about the terminology around the border poll and the language of the border poll. I know he wrote this report in 2019. I would like to hear how he feels about that now.

Professor Harvey has had a lot of engagement about the British Government and how a referendum would be triggered. Perhaps he could give an overview of where he is with that. There is a need here to separate out the electioneering around a united Ireland and then, at the same time, the preparatory questions and seeking of clarity on issues. It is difficult to do that, however, without moving down the road of people starting to electioneer. We already saw that in our previous general election. There was no sense that a border poll would be in five, ten or 20 years; it was let us have a border poll now. How does Professor Harvey make that distinction?

My message is that I do not believe it is wrong for people to be cautious whenever there is so much at stake. Much work has gone into all of this. I certainly feel that reconciliation must be at the core of everything we do. The report was written in 2019. I know Professor Harvey has engaged with many people. How does he find the level of engagement from unionists in general, not just when talking about diversity and inclusiveness, but in actually having that engagement?