Dr. Etain Tannam:

On the first point, with regard to being bounced into a decision by the Secretary of State, we stress in the report the necessity of British-Irish intergovernmental co-operation. In my contributions I also emphasise the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference and an alternative bilateral institution. Given that the Good Friday Agreement frames what we are doing and frames the law on this, we really emphasise the need for robust British-Irish co-operation so that ideally there should not be that sort of unexpected bouncing by the British Government.

We have seen from Brexit that some of what we thought would never happen, or at least that I thought would never happen, has happened. The degree of low trust between the governments seems to go back to the 1980s. This robustness is needed and the enhancement and revitalisation of the Good Friday Agreement institutions. This is my response to the specific question. It should be more co-ordinated informally even though formally it is the Secretary of State's power and only the Secretary of State's power to call the referendum.

I want to clarify, and perhaps Dr. Renwick, Professor McCrudden and Dr. Kenny can correct me if I am wrong, that there is a misconception sometimes that we say we must plan for a referendum, and the question just asked implied this, whereas what we are saying is that if there is a decision to call a referendum there must be planning before the referendum occurs. This is my impression but I may be wrong about it. It is slightly more nuanced than saying there must be planning. I stress that British-Irish co-operation is essential in avoiding the bouncing.