Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I warmly welcome the witnesses, visitors and Senators on this the second day of the public hearing of the Seanad Public Consultation Committee on the constitutional future of the island of Ireland. This process began in July when we invited members of the public to send in their submissions. We invited organisations and groups from all over the island of Ireland and beyond to do so. I sincerely thank all those who made submissions. We are lucky to have with us today Gunther Thurmann from Germany, who was involved in German reunification. He was a senior economist at the International Monetary Fund on the Germany desk during German reunification. He will give his insights into what Germany learned during that momentous time.

As I mentioned last week, as part of the public consultation process, we invited submissions from all over the island of Ireland and we were interested and anxious to get the voices of all traditions and all communities, particularly the unionist community, on their vision for the future of the island. Following on from these hearings, we will issue a draft report and the committee will review the draft report. It will then be published by the Houses of the Oireachtas.

Today's session is in two parts. From now until 1 p.m., we have young voices on the constitutional future of the island of Ireland. We have people from the Northern Ireland Youth Forum, people from Foroige, people who have come from Derry and people from the National Youth Council of Ireland. We will also have a session this afternoon on public policy and economic opportunities and challenges. We will have two different sessions on that, one session from 2 p.m. to 3.45 p.m. and a second session from 3.45 p.m. to 5 p.m.

On behalf of the committee and all the Senators, I would like to welcome our witnesses. We have Blair Anderson from the Northern Ireland Youth Forum, who will be speaking on the theme of housing and homelessness, we have Cohen Taylor, also from the Northern Ireland Youth Forum, who will be speaking on the theme of education and focusing on integrated education, we have Zack Taylor-Clarke, who will be speaking on the theme of peace and reconciliation and we have Patrick Quigley from St. Columb's College in Derry. We also have Evan Foley from Foroige, who will be speaking on the theme of education and our constitutional future, we have Niamh Diver-Hall, who will be speaking on the theme of digital skills and citizenship, we have Karina Tropman, who will be speaking on the theme of support for marginalised young people, we have Ashling Dunlop, who will be speaking on the theme of housing and mental health, we have Eoghan Halvey, from the National Youth Council of Ireland, who will be speaking on the theme of healthcare and culture, we have Doireann Walsh, who will be speaking on the themes of education, culture and language, we have Kim Mufaro Justen, who will be speaking on the theme of ending institutional living on the island of Ireland and we have Eimear Nic Dhonnchadh, who will be speaking on the theme of the role of the Irish language in reconciliation and who will be making her presentation as Gaeilge. The witnesses are most welcome and I thank them for coming to Seanad Éireann and engaging with the members of the committee and the Senators.

Before I begin, I want to draw witnesses' attention to the following procedural matter. I would like to remind them all that there is a long-standing parliamentary practice that they should not criticise or make charges against any person or entity, by name or in such a way to make him, her or it identifiable, or otherwise engage in a speech that might be regarded as damaging to the good name of that person or entity. Therefore, if their statements are potentially defamatory in relation to identifying a person or entity, they will be asked to discontinue their remarks. It is imperative they comply with such directions.

I would like to remind the members of the committee of that practice as well. I would also like to remind members that they are only allowed to participate if they are physically in the Chamber. This afternoon one of the witnesses will participate remotely from the United States.

To commence proceedings in this session, I would like to make a few introductory remarks. I would like to thank the witnesses for the effort they have made and the time they have taken to put their submissions together. We will have questions from the Senators after the first four witnesses have spoken. I call our first witness, Blair Anderson, who is most welcome.