Ms Noeleen Diver:

I thank everyone for all the contributions and support. On the understanding of civic engagement and the work we are trying to do at that level, I suppose we are drawing on the lessons of Brexit, the journey and process it has been and the varied understandings and expectations, most of which, of course, did not come to pass. Lifting that across to our situation, where we know the seriousness of such misunderstandings and cross-purposes, we are very exercised by the fact we need this conversation, as Mr. McCann keeps saying, sooner rather than later. This is why I referred to the fact that folk need help even to unpack the expectations and aspirations they hold. What in fact do they mean and what is at the core of them? We know there are different methods and tones for such facilitation and, within the community voluntary sector in Northern Ireland, there are a lot of conversations happening that perhaps go under the radar.

I am part of an organisation, Collaboration for Change, that is trying to excavate this kind of activism, in whatever faith, so that we can become visible to each other, learn from each other and then start to support each other. That experience might not be at the political level at all. It could be at the environmental, economic or social justice level, but the experience of that journey of exploration and listening, learning and developing action is utterly relevant, we believe, to the process we are addressing today.

I completely agree with the points that were made that there is a spectrum involved here. There are not any, dare I say, golden or silver bullets, or bullets of any sort. There is a spectrum of possibilities, and indeed why should we not cherry-pick and come up with different possibilities? The experience of that, and I go back to Inez McCormack, the experience of agency unlocks so many things and people start to solve their own local issues for themselves. I refer back to the descriptions made about west Belfast in the past couple of weeks but it is the encouragement of that, it is the facilitation of that and almost that we have the expectation of our citizenry to be able to do that and they are then facilitated to do that.

On the apathetic and the not engaged, that in a sense is not their fault. It is how are we communicating and engaging with them, understanding what is important to them, so we know we have opportunities. Another interesting one at the moment is community wealth building, which has quite taken off in parts of England and in, for example, North Ayrshire in Scotland. On something that is concrete and matters to people and impacts people, the agency is gained to move into these very sensitive and intricate spheres.

I agree it is intricate and incremental. There is a fear that people will run in different directions, but that is the patience, building and experience of it. If we are on a spectrum of options, if there is a possibility that, as with Brexit, we will be in or out, and if there are other possibilities, we might need a deliberative system and a voting system that accommodate that multiplicity. I refer the members to the modified Borda count by the de Borda Institute. Peter Emerson has done a lot of work on that approach. It allows the melding of possibilities to create the best that is possible. Again, it is reconciliation and conciliation. We talk about consensus, not consent, and what can I live with or what can I actually consent to.