Mr. Andrew Gallagher:

I will pick up on the point about 50% plus one. The legal test has to be 50% plus one. There is no way that, if a referendum is called, there is a 50% plus one result but it does not pass. We have more choice in our timing, though. We do not have to call a referendum right now when we think we will get 50% plus one. As many have pointed out, if we are looking at the direction of travel, once public opinion shifts, it is unlikely to shift back.

I do not think there is any danger in taking a little bit of time to do things right and get it done properly. I agree with all the others who said that the bigger the majority in favour, the better. While 50% plus one is legal, 60% or 70% would be much healthier for building a stable democracy in the future.

Senator Currie asked about what compromises republicanism could make because we always ask about unionism making compromises. That is the difficult question and I do not have an easy answer for it. Unionists will be upfront and state that they do not want anything from republicanism - they just want to be left alone to live their lives and stop having to worry about constant compromise and change. That is a feature of unionism and has been since it was founded. On the other hand, republicanism, because it is the agent asking for change, has to be the one that makes the proposal. If you are asking somebody for something, you have to offer them something. I do not think the public mood is quite there yet. I read an article in one of the newspapers recently arguing that the Republic is not ready for unity. Part of that is the lack of conversation in wider society. There has been a lot of conversation in forums like this and lots of academic studies done and books published. Richard Humphreys' book in particular is essential reading for anybody who wants to get into the nitty-gritty of how unification might actually happen in practice. The general public are still not quite thinking about it, or at least not thinking in terms of what price we are going to have to pay for unification. From that point of view we are still a good way off.