Reverend Karen Sethuraman:

I second what Mr. Lunn said. I thank Senator Blaney for his comments. He raised great questions. It is right to fear these things. It is right to have things we would be concerned about, but when we get to the core of what people want, I do not believe it is political. I believe it is the things we share together such as healthcare and education and what I mentioned earlier. When we get to the core of people’s lives, we need to acknowledge we have come a long way. Brexit has catapulted us to this place and we need to learn lessons from Brexit. It is a great reminder the groundwork is critical in this.

If we are going to set up a citizens' assembly with a remit to examine and explore Irish unity, then the groundwork, as Mr. Lunn said, will probably take years. In that there will be difficult conversations. The whole idea of neighbour has to be recognised. In Ireland's Future we talked about a warm house for all. This is not about saying one person is welcome and another is welcome. No one is an addition. This is already our home. The way the political stance is at the moment provides us with an opportunity to have these conversations. That is really what I want to emphasise. There is nothing to fear about conversations. The beauty about the story of the good neighbour is that when the man went to help the wounded, it never affected or diminished his identity. This is about gathering around a common vision and common goals and beginning to do the hard work based on experts. We need to be able to deliberate, learn and unlearn. It will be difficult.

These conversations are happening at kitchen tables. We have phenomenal grassroots community workers. All voices are there. People are doing this day in and day out. People have contacted me asking whether and how they can be part of it. Those are the people who I want to be heard. They include Kathleen, from the café, Sarah, the single mother, Jim, who is divorced, and Aidan, who is a mechanic. Those are the people we need to give the space to hear from. To leave this conversation off the table is not to put everything on the table. I do not think we need to have the answers but we need to begin to start this journey.