Mr. Mark Bassett:

I thank the Chair and the committee for the opportunity to come here again to speak. One of the questions asked on the last occasion, which I did not get a chance to address in full, was what was meant by external impediment in the Good Friday Agreement. In our written response, we said that at the core of the Good Friday Agreement and the constitutional arrangements in the UK and Ireland, is that Irish reunification is a question for the people of Ireland. It requires a vote in support in each jurisdiction but there should be no external or outside impediment. The report looked at the position of Irish membership of the European Union and came to the clear conclusion that membership of the European Union was not going to be an obstacle, nor was membership of the eurozone. I always thought that the phrase external impediment typically referred to the Westminster Parliament. It would not be open to a future British Parliament to disregard referendum votes in both the North and the South.

If one thinks back to previous Irish electorates voting for repeal, Home Rule or an Irish republic, it was dependent on winning support in the Westminster Parliament. We say that is no longer the case. There is still a very strong, traditional understanding of the sovereignty or supremacy of the Westminster Parliament in that it can legislate as it sees fit. Any restrictions on that choice are self-imposed. Examples are sometimes given that Westminster could legislate to prohibit smoking in Paris or to revoke the independence of colonies. We say that the reference to "without external impediment" is a recognition by the UK that it would not be practical or realistic for a future UK Parliament to frustrate those votes.

The other question we addressed in the subsequent written piece was whether or not it has to be a binary question when the referendums are posed in both the North and South. Does it have to be either Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom or a reunified Ireland? We say it is pretty clear in the Good Friday Agreement that this is the choice. It is a binary choice. Re-partition, independence, the accession of Northern Ireland to another state or indefinite joint authority between Britain and Ireland is not contemplated in the agreement. If that was proposed, it would require a back to basics approach to the agreement and we think that would be an unwise move.

The Good Friday Agreement has formidable democratic authority. It was endorsed in referendums both North and South. It has formidable legal and political backing. There is bipartisan backing for it in the United States Congress. It is a feature of the Irish Constitution and the UK's constitutional arrangements. It is in the EU-UK withdrawal agreement and is a matter of EU law as well as the mechanism for self-determination and reunification. We say that a referendum will be posed in those terms. It will be a choice for Northern Ireland whether it wishes to join a united Ireland, which is a member of the European Union, or remain as part of the United Kingdom in the Northern Ireland protocol. That is how we anticipate the vote will be formed.

That is enough from my opening statement, covering what we had written. As Professor Harvey said, I look forward to continuing the discussion and answering any questions from committee members.