Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their powerful contributions. I am not surprised by anything they have said and I am up for having these conversations. The witnesses spoke about assumptions they feel people make about unionism. There are also assumptions in the other direction. I imagine that I have very different views on certain issues to my colleagues, Senators Black and Ó Donnghaile, who are sitting on my left. There is a lot of talk about what unionists think about engaging in a different constitutional framework. At our first hearing I said that the question also needs to be asked about how much republicans are willing to compromise. This is as important. I hear everybody speaking about a predetermined outcome. I am interested in being open-minded and seeing what the best solutions are. I want to do this without "isms". It is the "isms" that are holding us back. If a united Ireland means we lose the perception of what a romantic unitary state looks like because we are accommodating a shared new island I am up for that conversation. This is what I want to say.

I hear what Mr. Marshall is saying about referring to the North and the South as terrible places. This is a point I have mentioned previously. This will not convince the silent majority. I do not get it. Most people want to hear about the positives of integration and not the negatives. Is everything perfect? No. Is everything terrible? No. I have just had a conversation with a friend of mine about where we are headed on this island. The silent majority, which previously voted unionist or did not see any alternative to there being separate states, is changing. I agree with what is been said about the plurality of identities. My friend is somebody who would fit into neither box. Things are shifting. We need to have this conversation. There are people who want to do this without a predetermined vision of what they want. They are open-minded and believe in accommodation rather than assimilation.