Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is nice to meet Mr. Murphy again. This is fourth time that I have met representatives of Ireland's Future in the last year. Any contribution in this area is to be valued. That is the case not just in respect of Ireland's Future but also the other groups that we have met and the work of the shared island unit.

I must say that I am concerned about some of the language used. I hear people talking about playing catch-up and the need for the thinking of one side to catch up with the thinking of the other. That is not helpful language. It presumes that there is a right and a wrong. That is not what we are all trying to do. What we are trying to do here is to build consensus and agreement. Senator Blaney made a very good point about the work that went into the Good Friday Agreement that was about building consensus and relationships. That is what the focus should be. I do not think that it is valuable for people in this conversation to say that one group needs to catch up with another group, irrespective of what group that is. That is one point I would like to make.

I am sorry that Ms Harmon is not present, as she was deeply involved in the work to repeal the eighth amendment. I would ask her and perhaps Mr. Murphy, how they feel, when we put so much emphasis of the promotion and protection of human rights, that 14 months after women's healthcare services were made legal in the North, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission is now going to the High Court about access to women's healthcare?

Is there a role in all of this for an all-island discussion on that issue? Is any work happening in that area?

Presidential voting rights were mentioned. I too look forward to a referendum on that issue but, within that, we must also discuss the funding of political organisations on an all-island basis and how all of that works. Is there a role for that within all-island discussions and as part of Ireland's Future work too?