Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Friday, 30 September 2022
Seanad Public Consultation Committee
Young Voices on the Constitutional Future of the Island of Ireland: Discussion
Ms Niamh Mallaghan:
I completely agree that this is part of it, but the issue with Brexit was that the average voter, who is not in rooms such as this, was not educated on what Brexit would look like. This is the same issue. We can have all the discussions we want but my mum is sitting at home and is not part of this conversation. There needs to be education within the population about what that will look like. Sometimes people do not want to sit here and have this conversation. They do not want to be told, "Here, this is what you are voting on." It is like looking at a political party's mandate and stuff like that.
Lastly, I refer to the issue of identity. In Northern Ireland, depending on what arena you are in, your identity changes. While I am a Catholic and a nationalist, the most important parts of my identity, as Caitlin said earlier, are what I am doing, the work I am involved in and me as a person. We should not be defined by what we choose to vote on or what religion we identify with.
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