Dr. Stephen Farry:

Apologies for missing most of the meeting; I was otherwise engaged. I will not comment overly because I did not hear what was said previously. However, I wish to make two points.

First, I wish to commend all the academics who are with us today on their work. I have had the pleasure of engaging with them in the preparation of the report. It is a most worthy addition to the debate. Beyond that, I want to stress something to which Ms Hanna also alluded. Between last week's presentation by Professor Colin Harvey and Mr. Mark Bassett, BL, and this evening, we have largely scoped out the options at least in terms of the mechanics of how this can be taken forward. The choices have not necessarily been made as to exactly what options are pursued, but they are fairly well scoped out. The most important aspect now is for people to talk through the issues involved so that we have informed debate on the "what", not necessarily the "how" anything could be done, if that is where indeed people choose to go. Obviously, it is a fluid situation with very different perspectives.

Leading back towards our academic friends, I am conscious of the dilemma as to how they can get unionist engagement. I am very much of the opinion that if there ever is to be a Border poll, the proposition needs to be clearly articulated at the time of that poll and not left hanging. To do so would lead to a terrible state of affairs. That then begs the question as to how to get unionism engaged on the proposition of a question. There is a real onus or opportunity for academia and others to provide neutral forums for discussion of the issues, where there is no clear perceived biased outcome from those who are hosting the event. It is more likely that at least civic unionists will gradually join that conversation if they can see that is a safe and neutral space for those discussions to happen. I encourage UCL and others to consider how they can facilitate type of discussion, on a without-prejudice basis.