Dr. David Kenny:

To deal with the question of the European Convention on Human Rights, it is fair to say, and there would probably be broad agreement in our group, that there is no question but that the ECHR would have to form an essential part of rights protection, not least because it is listed expressly as one of the core safeguards in strand 1 of the agreement and because the reason, ultimately, that the convention was incorporated into Irish domestic law was to meet the obligation of rights protection north and south of the Border being of equal standard. There is, therefore, no doubt but that that would have to happen. In addition, an unrealised possibility of a bill of rights for Northern Ireland, if it should come about, could provide additional safeguards and standards over those that would potentially pose an obligation on Ireland to respond in kind. Any of those measures will have to form a core basis of human rights protection, and I do not think there is any question about that.

I will comment briefly on the ides of a new constitution. As Dr. Renwick has said, it is outside the scope of our report and I limit myself to saying that in the report we are very much considering the possibility of either very significant amendments to the Constitution, a small number of amendments to the Constitution or an entirely new Irish constitution in the event of these referendums taking place and being successful. It would be impossible to suggest that a new constitution would not be something to be considered in that process. We are not taking a view on whether that is more desirable than the alternatives at this juncture.