Dr. Alan Tuffery:

I would like to take up one very useful point made by Senator Ó Donnghaile regarding things the Government here can do now. There are lots of things we can do that would make this polity a better one for those of us living here now. They would also make it more attractive to citizens not only in this Republic but in Northern Ireland. Neither polity, Northern Ireland or the Republic, wants to inherit in a united Ireland the problems and faults of the other jurisdiction. We have all got our own problems, which we are trying to deal with. We have them and Northern Ireland has them, and it is trying to deal with those too as best it may.

There are things we can do. At the risk of stealing some of Mr. Campbell Scott's thunder, we can legislate for change in education and health to remove the residual religious influence which many would say is far too dominant - certainly secularists and humanists like me would say so. If we create what I would call a more liberal - I know that is a dangerous word - society, that is, one that is more respectful of minorities, it would be a more attractive one for people to come and join for those from Northern Ireland, and it would be a more attractive place to live in.