Dr. David Kenny:

I thank Dr. Renwick, and the members of the committee for their questions. Starting with the first point on concurrence, we conclude that it is certainly possible, and it may be considered desirable, to have referendums on the same day. Concurrence would probably not have to mean precisely contemporaneous referendums if there were seen to be some political advantage in having a vote first in one jurisdiction or the other. We think it is possible to do that, once the referendums are close in time and there is no material change in between. Regarding possible political implications of doing that, that should be carefully considered. It is not something that we specifically address in our report, however.

Turning to the question from Deputy Carroll MacNeill on Article 3 of the Constitution, it is an interesting point that textually the article refers to "uniting all the people who share the territory of the island". In addition, it also mentions bringing about a united Ireland by peaceful means. It is fair to suggest therefore that the article is interested in uniting people and territory, and it would be entirely legitimate to conceive of any obligation under Article 3 as existing along both those axes and each one might require different elements. I stress that is my personal reading of Article 3 as an Irish constitutional scholar and it is not something we addressed in detail in the scope of the report. I offer that view only as my own perspective.

I will leave some of commentary on the referendum process to Dr. Renwick, because we are both especially interested in that area. In the report, however, we highlight various aspects of campaign conduct rules which are perhaps in need of moderation in each jurisdiction in any event in respect of areas such as campaign finance, the role of governments, information and misinformation and social media. There may be calls for and a need to examine modernisation in that context, even aside from this specific set of referendums. Dr. Renwick might speak with more precision on this aspect regarding what we recommended in the report.