Mr. Ryan Carlin:

Regarding perceptions, as an Irishman who grew up in Derry and who now lives in greater Belfast, the perception I have when people in the South, or the establishment parties of the South, as we will call them, look to the North is that our Irishness is regarded as almost second class. We are not considered of the same strand. Often people will ask what can be done to make it easier for unionists and what can be done to engage with unionism. However, a massive cohort of people who also live in the North do not just consider themselves to be but actually are Irish citizens. I often think that our voice is misrepresented or left unheard. Therefore, it would also be great to see more engagement with people of an Irish background. I do not want to use the terms "unionist" or "nationalist", and some parties represented here designate themselves as "other". Therefore, we are in a relatively new position where people who have voted for those "other" parties do not seem to have an opinion now on whether they are in favour of Irish unification or of the union. They most certainly do, however, and recent polling in January has shown that only 7% of people said that they did not know whether they wanted Irish unity or to keep the union with Britain.

It is also important to recognise that people might not designate themselves as nationalist, and I know plenty of people who have moved away from doing that. There are obviously negative connotations with the term when we look at English or British nationalism and sometimes people here do not designate now as either nationalist or unionist. However, they certainly do still believe themselves to be Irish. Emma de Souza often says that she does not designate. She is not a nationalist or a unionist, but she strongly considers herself to be Irish and went to the courts to assert that point and reinforce the Good Friday Agreement in that regard. I wanted to make that point, because sometimes we get caught up in believing that because people may not vote for parties that designate as nationalist or unionist that they may no longer have an opinion on the constitutional question.

Turning to the economy of the North and its integration, as well as educational access, which was also mentioned, those aspects are vitally important. Many people leave the North and do not seem to ever come back. Drawing on my professional background, the technology sector is growing in the North and seems to be blossoming.