Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to comment on a point made by Reverend Karen in regard to the 50% plus one. It is important to say that 50% plus one is the democratic standard. It is the democratic mandate. To deviate from that risks my vote or someone else's vote being bigger than the other. That is a very important principle of democracy. The concerns that are being articulated around it reflect more of an unwillingness to force an annexation or to replicate an unwilling counter majoritarian scenario. It is not about changing the numbers, rather it is about the broader conversation we are having, which is about great dialogue and being invested in and talking to each other and creating the circumstance which, whatever the constitutional outcome, is one that has been agreed together and moved forward together. That is where I see that focus on the 50% plus one conversation going. It is interesting to see how the conversation on that point alone, which is trying to express a generosity about the circumstances in which we have the conversation, risks becoming polarised very quickly. I am not suggesting Reverend Karen is doing that, but I am observing this series of conversations.

On the citizens' assembly, it is a fantastic and necessary prerequisite for any major constitutional change. One of the issues discussed by this committee was the engagement between the universities, which appeared to be engagement between the universities around the Border rather than in Belfast and Cork. It would be really interesting to have a citizens' assembly on a county basis, thus forcing counties throughout the country to engage with each other and at an early stage. My comments are observations on the dialogue thus far rather than specific questions. I again thank the witnesses for joining us today and for participating with us.