Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To respond to Ms Gildernew, there are different forms of participatory democracy, if we can call it that. To refer to my earlier remarks, citizens' assemblies tend to be a set group of people meeting on a specific topic with specific terms of reference. As we discussed earlier, for me the building of reconciliation and trust between North and South and different traditions is an entirely different sphere of activity that must be ongoing, sustained and not timebound. In many respects the shared island programme has a civic dialogue dimension to it.

More than 1,300 people have now participated in that from different backgrounds and not just those selected randomly from a group, as would be the case with a citizens' assembly. That has value but these 1,300 people are from all sorts of backgrounds. Some have an interest in climate, some are interested in sport and some are interested in tourism. They have come together in different sectoral formats to discuss areas of concern to them and how matters can be advanced. As I said, one of those led to an all-island women's forum and an all-island climate and biodiversity forum and network being established. There are significant people in research in University College Cork who are working with Northern counterparts to come back to us with biodiversity projects.

This is not something a citizens' assembly on its own would be able to achieve. We want to get people working together proactively on the island, irrespective of background. We want them to bring their expertise to the table and achieve progress and greater connectivity. The Narrow Water Bridge, for example, is about connectivity and tourism. The Ulster Canal is about tourism, recreation, jobs and connectivity as well.

The shared island unit is not getting involved on the constitutional side in terms of setting dates or anything like that. There is a broader Good Friday Agreement framework to governance and there are political parties with different perspectives on that. We have made the point. That gives us capacity to open it to all communities, and the challenge is to build trust so people can participate in a shared island without the sense it is a Trojan horse for something else. That is a concern of unionism, to be frank. So far no barriers have been put up to it.

It is interesting and heartening to see the enthusiasm in the third level sector and 62 projects have now been sanctioned. There was mention of mental health and one of those projects relates to the championing of mental health in Northern Ireland. The woman's name escapes me but it is a fascinating project. I met those involved, and they are teaming up with computational experts and people in computer science to develop apps for young people for early interventions on mental health. These are the kinds of activities we are promoting and it is where we want to keep the focus. There is also work on liquid biopsies to detect cancers and monitor tumours. It involves a consortium of third level institutions, including Queen's University and universities in the Republic of Ireland. That could be revolutionary in the diagnosis of various cancers and types of emerging tumours.

If we layer constitutional issues over this and set dates, we would kill this work. People will retreat to their trenches and there would be all sorts of issues. We do not need to go there. That is my view, although without prejudice to my opinions on how I would like to see the situation evolving and so on. That is the rationale behind where we are going.

I do not know if a submission was made by Senator Ó Donnghaile as the north west made the highest number of submissions on the rail network issue.