Dr. Anthony Soares:

I will make a few introductory comments and then hand over to Ms Farrell, Ms Ní Lochlainn and Mr. Quinn if they want to add anything else. We could not agree more about aspects of the Good Friday Agreement that have not been implemented. In recent years, because of the UK's withdrawal from the EU, the lead-up to that and during the negotiations, a light has been shone on the absence of structures for engagement with civic society. The Senator mentioned the Civic Forum for Northern Ireland. That was replaced by a six-member advisory group, which was mentioned again in the New Decade, New Approach agreement. We still have to see what exactly is happening with that. I suggest that a six-person advisory panel is not a substitute for the Civic Forum for Northern Ireland.

I agree about shining a light on the absence of an all-Ireland consultative forum, which was suggested in the Good Friday Agreement and reiterated in the St. Andrews Agreement. There was a call on the Northern Ireland Executive to ensure that it came about. We have yet to see that happen. The Senator asked whether the our group fills some of those gaps. I would not necessarily say that we would fill it. We cannot presume to speak for other groups but we are organisations that are intimately involved in North-South co-operation and in conversations on a North-South basis between a whole range of organisations with all sorts of areas of interest. We are having those conversations in the absence of any structured mechanism to facilitate them. We also engage with other civic society groups. We have a meeting this afternoon with another group of civic society organisations in Northern Ireland to discuss some proposals relating to structured mechanisms for engagement with civic society. We are coming together and those proposals have been developed Katy Hayward of Queen's University.

Regarding what we would like the committee to do, for my part, one thing that we are really conscious of, as mentioned in my introductory statement, is the implementation of the protocol. Article 11 states that the protocol should ensure "the necessary conditions for North-South cooperation". I urge the committee to assist and support us in our cause in any of those conversations about whether those conditions are being maintained. Organisations based in the Republic of Ireland need to be seated around the table. You cannot talk about North-South co-operation and whether conditions are being maintained by simply speaking to organisations at one end of that, which would be Northern Ireland groups in that case.

It has to be all of us together involved in that co-operation. I would urge the committee to support us in ensuring those conversations involve both sides of North-South co-operation.