Mr. Séamas de Faoite:

I will go through some of the points that have been raised. On the citizens' assembly, it is important to note that the city council supports the principle of citizens' assemblies on policy subjects around unity, particularly in regard to issues such as health, education and the bread and butter subjects that must be covered in any conversation on constitutional change because, at the end of the day, we must be able to present a plan, vision or idea about what the change we want to achieve looks like. This position was arrived at by the council following an SDLP amendment to a Sinn Féin motion so I am glad that this was the direct impact of the SDLP on that conversation to make it the official policy of the council of the second largest city on the island. An interesting consideration mentioned by Mr. Hughes concerned getting the unity campaign on the same page. Ultimately, there are significant issues around how we lead this conversation. As an SDLP councillor, I am glad to see the initiative my party has shown around the New Ireland Commission, which includes some members of this committee. What is important about that conversation is that it has brought in people from many different backgrounds without any expectation on a landing point or where we expect to be in a year or two or three in respect of constitutional change but rather to sound out as many views and opinions as possible. They are people who are open to having that conversation. I am glad to see that. Although the background on my screen is blurred, one of the pictures behind me in my office is of the former German Chancellor, Willy Brandt, who used to talk about Ostpolitik and the idea that to unify Germany, there needed to be a clear plan about how to make it happen to address regional economic imbalances and cultural differences. That is a good starting point as a model for us to work towards unity and understanding that we need a plan. We need something to be able to grow so we can say that this is our vision and this is the future.

I know Mr. Hughes has said he does not want to get into the blame game around the protocol but I will be honest in saying this is a consequence of the Brexit the DUP, the Conservative Party and the European Research Group all pushed for. It is quite unfortunate that this is the position we have ended up in. Others on this call have advocated for different positions that would have ameliorated some of those issues. As I said earlier, I was chairperson of Belfast City Council's Brexit committee in my first year on the council. Some of the warnings we faced regarding the impact on trade, businesses, particularly manufacturers in the city, and quite simply council resources to follow through with required checks were pretty stark. This is why so many parties and individuals advocated for the softest possible measures relating to Brexit.