Mr. Mickey Brady:

As somebody who lived through the conflict in the Six Counties from day one, I did not watch it from afar on television. I represent a Border county and I can see the very positive aspects of the Good Friday Agreement in my constituency. I would not necessarily accept that society, in my constituency at least, is more divided. In my view, people are coming together more and more, particularly in the case of young people.

I have been a member of this committee since 2015, as has the Acting Chairman. When we talk about the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, the referendum and the Border poll constitute an intricate part of that agreement. It seems that some members of the committee are more interested in revising parts of the agreement than actually implementing it. Ms McNamee mentioned the issue of the 50% plus-one threshold and asked what will happen to the minority if the result is as narrow as that, but that is democracy. If we members of this committee were elected by 50% of votes plus one, we would all be reasonably happy just to have been elected.

Brexit has been mentioned a great deal. In my experience, having talked to people in Britain, and in England in particular, there was a mismanagement and they did not really know what they were voting for. In the lead-up to a Border poll, there would have to be a serious and prolonged discussion of what it would entail in order that anybody who was voting would be aware of what he or she was voting for. In the Brexit referendum, the people in the Six Counties voted to remain in Europe by 56% to 44%. Again, that was democracy but it was ignored. We need to focus on implementing the Good Friday Agreement rather than try to cherry-pick bits and pieces from it.