Professor Colin Harvey:

I thank the Senator for the questions. I also thank the Senator for following up by writing to the Secretary of State. It is very much appreciated.

Again, the aim was to try to elicit some more clarity. Following on from the Court of Appeal in the McCourt judgment, I am conscious that the Secretary of State has significant amount of flexibility in triggering this process. My letters were really an attempt to try to get a bit more transparency and a bit more detail as to what precisely the Secretary of State does in this regard, for example, what evidence he relies on in reaching his judgment. I had basic questions on how often the Secretary of State reviews the relevant evidence. I believe this would be helpful for everyone on this island because, of course, the right to self-determination belongs to the people of this island. Clarity would be helpful. I have had two responses so far. I have shared correspondence with the committee members and a bit more widely. The committee members can reach their own conclusions from the responses. My view is clear. The response was from a group within the Northern Ireland Office. The Secretary of State has fundamentally failed to answer the detailed questions raised in my letter. To my mind this shows a profound lack of respect for the people of this island. My questions remain unanswered. I very much wish this committee all the best in having more luck than I had in getting detailed responses from the Secretary of State. It is very important. While it is not the only task at the moment, it is one part of the jigsaw. It is a piece in the jigsaw of moving towards these referendums taking place. The Secretary of State needs to provide detailed answers.

Before I hand over to Mr. Bassett I will address briefly the Senator's second question. Universities have a fundamentally important role in this regard. A remarkable amount of work is currently ongoing such as the work of the ARINS project with the University of Notre Dame. Reference was also made to the work at the University of Liverpool. There is work going on at Queen's University Belfast, Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin. In some senses the preparatory work has started and other people are, essentially, catching up. This is all very valuable in fleshing out some of the rather technical and boring detailed questions that need to be answered in advance. I would encourage that this work is continued. I would also encourage the committee and others to support that work. There is work to be done, for example, in establishing research programmes to facilitate that. There is an opportunity to support research, for example, by the shared island unit. I know it can be a bit nervous about going near the subject but I do not think it needs to be. The shared island unit can talk about how we share the island now and how we might share it in the future. Perhaps that unit could support and fund some of the work. Organisations such as Universities Ireland, which provides a co-ordinating role for universities across the island, could support the work so we are talking to each other and analysing the sort of detailed questions that arise.

Ultimately, I hope the committee is clear today, and from our last engagement, that our work is all about making sure we challenge myths, that we have an informed and evidence-based approach, and that we do the work in advance. This is bearing in mind what Dr. Farry said about this being a condition-led process and that we are not bounced into a border poll, so that when the time comes the people North and South will know precisely what they are voting for, that nobody is painting false promises on the backs of buses, and that it is a verifiable, credible and evidence-based conversation, whatever the outcome may then be.