Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for that round of contributions. There was a lot to absorb in it. There were a few takeaways for me. Ms Myers spoke about the really important issue of EU rights, entitlements, protections and so on. I wonder whether she sees what we are debating today with regard to constitutional change and our constitutional future as an important issue for young people in the North who have been deprived of a lot of those rights, protections and entitlements. The prospect of coming back into the EU through constitutional change may be an important consideration for young people in that debate. Perhaps young people have not thought about this issue before. It may not have really interested them but if reunification meant that they could come back into the EU, would that be an important driver in the debate?

Mr. Millar gave us a really important reminder regarding the whole issue of rights. Any society and any republic has to be grounded in rights. Senator Horkan and I had a quick chat about affirming or declaring rights but implementing rights is the real challenge and issue. An important right for young people all around the world, now and throughout history, has been the right to self-determination. That is a really important consideration because it is the right of young people to be actively involved in considering the type of society they want, although they also have the right not to be involved in that debate. That is connected with the issue Ms Mallaghan spoke about with regard to young people being heard and given a platform. When you assert your right to self-determination, you have an important role to play in ensuring you kick down the doors and get access to the rooms you need to be in.

Reference was also made to the issue of housing and homelessness. This is a massive issue North and South and not a day goes past in this room on which it is not raised and discussed. Within the context of future constitutional change, there is a debate ongoing on the issue of a constitutional right to housing which would give people a legal right to a home and whether it is something we should be considering.

There was a wee bit of a challenge made to us. I worked in an EU-funded cross-community programme in north Belfast. Ms Lynch is right. While we do this as individual members - and I am not being defensive because it is a fair challenge - it would do not harm for this committee to not just bring people into this room, but to go to north Belfast and meet some of the young people she is talking about and hear about the projects they are working on. I would love to do that. Is é sin mo mhéid.