John McGahon (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have three or four key questions, which I will get through quickly. I remember when I was on Louth County Council in early 2017, approximately six to ten months after the Brexit referendum happened, that Sinn Féin had a motion calling for a border poll. One of the points I made back then, which I still believe now, is that we are far better off having a border poll when we know we are going to win it rather than taking the risk of losing it narrowly or of there not being a huge turnout and the narrative of it being questioned.

What do Mr. Bassett or Professor Harvey need to see in Northern Irish or Irish society to know there is a very good chance of a border poll actually being successful? What barometers are they are looking for to know there would be a credible chance? I accept that many people are talking about and discussing it. What key barometers are the witnesses looking out for to know whether a border poll would have a good chance of being successful?

One of the points mentioned in the report was about voting rights. The witnesses said that we need a much more generous and inclusive franchise on both sides of the Border for this referendum when it comes along. In Professor Harvey and Mr. Bassett's views, what is a generous franchise? South of the Border, for example, is that opening it up to non-Irish citizens who currently cannot vote in referendums? Would it even mean opening it up to Irish citizens living abroad? Perhaps the witnesses would expand on how wide they see that franchise of who could and could not vote in the referendum.

Mr. Bassett said that if a united Ireland was successful, we would have to have a continuation of the institutions on either side of the Border until we get an idea of what does and does not work. How long would he envisage that happening? What does he see in terms of an amalgamation of two parliaments on this island? What does that look like? When does that happen after a unity referendum has possibly passed?

I wish to back up what Senator Blaney and my colleagues, Senator Currie and Deputy Carroll MacNeill, said. While I am not afraid to take on this debate and I do not mean to say that we are going too far ahead, because it is really important to have these conversations now and, as everyone agrees, to plan for this now, I would be fearful that we are leaving the unionist community in Northern Ireland behind where, with some of the dialogue and rhetoric they are seeing on this side of the Border, they are under the impression that a referendum might happen in the next year or two years. What more are we doing to make sure those concerns are looked after and that we make this as least divisive as possible when the time comes?