Ms Claire Hanna:

I will try to be brief because I know that Mr. Eastwood has spoken.

I thank the witnesses. Their project is really beneficial and is already producing good and thought-provoking results. Sometimes the practical questions are framed as being those typically asked by a party pooper, but in fact they are helping people to work through the details. It is like that old thing of it being one thing for a candidate to knock a person's door and ask them whether they are going to vote, but when the candidate asks them how they will get to the polling station, it causes them to think into the future, which is worth doing.

I do not have many specific questions on the mechanics, because it is the third meeting in three or four weeks where we have discussed the mechanics. The point has been well-made by other members in respect of the insufficient parallel engagement on the hearts and minds piece. I am also in agreement with others who say that Northern political unionism is probably not going to engage practically at this point. I disagree with that approach, in that I think that there is always something to be gained by engaging and shaping the future. However, it is a perfectly rational political decision on its part not to engage. I often say to people that if I was invited to take part in a convention on shaping the union in the 21st century, I would be lying if I said I would be first in the queue to attend.

I wish to pick up on the latest couple of points raised. Dr. Renwick raised the issue of political unionism not engaging. I am wondering to what extent the conversation that is happening more widely in the UK about the union is thinking about Northern Ireland. By that, I mean that the issue of the union is no longer really even in our hands. Gordon Brown is doing his report on a potential federal UK and Scottish independence is at least an each-way bet or is as likely as not to happen. It is very possible that thestatus quo is not even going to be on the table for much longer in respect of changes that are happening and-or should happen within the union. Do the witnesses have any sense or hint that Northern Irish unionism is engaging in that, or that some of that big thinking that is being done by people like Gordon Brown is considering how things could work in Northern Ireland? Do the witnesses feel that it has somewhat written off Northern Ireland or is just not engaging in the detail of how some sort of new, modernised, federal UK could better accommodate the diversity and the specific circumstances of Northern Ireland?