Mr. Trevor Lunn:

It is nice to see Senator Black again. She mentioned, like many others, the Ballymurphy families today. I am going down the road shortly to join them and I will pass on the comments and emotions that have been displayed today by so many representatives from the other side of the Border. I think it is absolutely marvellous and I hope that the Ballymurphy families have a successful day. It is going to be very emotional day for them but it is nice to hear that the members support them so openly.

Senator Black asked about the fear and what people are afraid of. When I was growing up, people were afraid of domination by the Catholic Church. That was the big thing. I remember the father of my first girlfriend who told me one night, when we were having a discussion about this, that as far as he was concerned the South was not ruled from Dublin but Maynooth. That was a big strapline for people in those days, that the Catholic Church dominated everything. I dare say that there might have been some validity to that argument but it certainly is not the case now, and rightly so. The South is an open-minded, outward-looking cosmopolitan type of society and long may it continue to progress. That fear is gone. There is a fear of a loss of identity and culture. The ability to display culture is quite a big thing. I see no reason in a new Ireland why that should be interfered with. In fact, given the South's record in these things, it will be more than open to making sure rights of identity and culture are protected.

The health service has already been discussed. People would like to hang on to our 300,000 waiting list health service as an alternative to whatever is going to happen in the South. I cannot discount that that is a big thing but it will be resolved, I think.

Lastly, there is the cost of living. I have seen so many comparisons between the cost of living in the South and the cost of living in the North. At the moment, I find it quite impossible to decide who is better off. In the South, wages are higher but so are prices, costs, taxation and all the rest. How do you make the comparison? How do you make the comparison looking ahead to what would be the situation after reunification? It is impossible. There is also the cost of reunification. That is not really a fear for the population. That is a fear perhaps for government. There are other fears but identity, the health service and the cost of living are high on the list and we have to deal with those.