Mr. Seamus Sloyan:

I agree with most of what Mr. Cushnahan said but there was a piece I left out. My idea of identity is if you are born in Wales you are Welsh, if you are born in Scotland you are Scottish, if you are born in England you are English, and if you are born in the Thirty-two Counties of Ireland you are Irish. You can be what you like afterwards: Irish-British, Irish-Scotch or whatever you like. That is my opinion.

On my vision for Ireland, while the one Senator McDowell mentioned has great value, I would like to see Ireland reunited within the Commonwealth of Nations.

We lost that identity in 1949 when - I will not mention who took it away from us but it is well known - on a whim, because he was seated in the wrong place at a party, this person took offence and decided we were getting out of the Commonwealth. I would like to see us back in the Commonwealth. It is not the British Commonwealth, it is the Commonwealth of Nations. I am open to correction, but as far as I know there are several republics in the Commonwealth.