Professor Colin Harvey:

My colleagues are trying to help inform public debate and ensure there is proper civic deliberation and bring evidence to bear on this. I take on board the comments that have been made. I will respond to some of the questions that have been raised by Senators. They are excellent questions and we can tell how much detail they have been engaging in this through the questions themselves. The theme of my answers on the need for preparation and planning has been underlined by every one of the questions raised.

Senator Black asked about human rights and equality. There is a joint committee on the island of Ireland of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. I am not sure how much public awareness there is that it is even there in the here and now. It struck me that people are already speaking about a new constitution for a new Ireland. For me as a human rights professor, the director of the Human Rights Centre at Queens and somebody who has worked in human rights, human rights and equality need to be at the heart of this. Civic society groups working for human rights and equality need to be at the table. They need to be engaged in the conversation in the here and now. There is a joint committee of the two commissions. They should be thinking about this now and not waiting. They should be doing the preparatory work now. Senator Black also asked about planning. The Oireachtas needs a dedicated committee or sub-committee, whatever we want to call it and whatever language we want to use, regarding planning. This needs to happen now as part of the overall package of measures of planning.

Senator O'Reilly raised the question of 50% plus 1%. The rules have already been made and it is crystal clear. Very few people go into a referendum wanting to win a referendum by a certain amount. I want to flip it back over and think about it as follows. The constitutional status of Northern Ireland rests on consent. It worries me when people speak about super majorities when consent is an underlying constitutional principle of the agreement. We cannot go on forever and not ask people the constitutional question when it appears likely that consent is absent. This is not raised often enough. We cannot, to come back to my earlier point, keep denying people this fundamental choice.

Senator O'Reilly spoke about the shared island unit and building in further preparation. I want to mention two institutions. These are the shared island unit and the British-Irish intergovernmental Conference. I use shared island language myself. People may not want to look at my Twitter account but I use the language of human rights and equality and shared island. I do this deliberately because a new and united Ireland would be a different way of sharing the island in the future. We share the island now in the way that we do. The shared island unit needs to become much more ambitious and grasp the reality of the constitutional framework. The British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference needs to be framed by British-Irish intergovernmental co-operation. This issue should be on the agenda of the next meeting of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference. Both Governments should be sketching out the parameters now because the lack of certainty and clarity is destabilising. We have reached a point now where there is so much momentum around this conversation that the lack of intergovernmental clarity is a problem. We know enough now. It is foolish to keep speculating in the abstract as to what might persuade a Secretary of State to do this. We know enough here and now to do the planning and preparation. We should start now. We should not be waiting around any further.

Senator Ó Donnghaile spoke about an all-island citizens' assembly. I absolutely agree. One way to involve people is to have a series of all-island civic initiatives framed in a way that encourages participation and engagement. I started by saying the right belonged to the people of the island of Ireland. In my view this needs to frame the entire process before, during and after. People on the island need to be involved. I am not naive. I realise the challenges of structuring something to get people to participate and be involved. Political unionists of all varieties need to be involved in this and warmly welcomed and invited to participate. I absolutely agree.

Senator Currie asked outstanding questions about very challenging aspects of this. One was on the electoral law North and South. It is a very interesting question. What is voter eligibility in Northern Ireland? The Secretary of State is supposed to be adopting this test. We do not even know who is going to vote in the referendum in Northern Ireland. Can the rules in the south of Ireland on voting in referendums stay the way they are in advance of this? It needs to be fair and planned. Members know the academic research that has already taken place on the mechanics and detail of the referendum process. A University College London working group has been looking at all of this to try to flesh it out. It reiterates the need for planning and getting this right. My view is that the referendum needs to happen at the same time on the island. I know there is a debate about this but my view is that people on the island of Ireland need to vote on the same day on the same essential basis in the referendum. It would further add complications if they were staggered or happen at different times.

An excellent question was asked on the proposition. At some point in the future an Irish Government will have to put a proposal on the table. The question of getting to this will involve a wide and deep civic and political coalition of actors. As we know, all political parties agree on all issues at all the time. It will be a challenge. It will require epic skilful management to work to a point at which a proposition that can garner widespread support is on the table. I want to raise another point. It needs to be proposed by people who can deliver it. It will have to be an Irish Government that can deliver the proposition in the longer term. In this regard, there is a tendency to see some of these constitutional issues as big epic one-off events but a new united Ireland will be an ongoing process.

You want to put the framework in place whether it is to amend the Constitution, develop a new constitution or hold constitutional conventions after people have voted in order to allow this to evolve. A new united Ireland, and the sort of new united Ireland that I want to see in terms of equality and human rights, will not happen overnight, it will develop over time, but the structures have to be there to enable, facilitate and allow that to happen over time.

Senator Wall mentioned the question of community involvement. For some years now, I have been reiterating the importance of civic engagement and it echoes the point that Mr. McCord was making. I could go away tonight and we could lock the doors and write a new constitution for Ireland tonight. It is not that hard. But it would not be right to do that because we need to involve people. People need to be at the heart of this conversation because people are at the heart of the Good Friday Agreement. It needs to involve communities and civic dialogue the length and breadth of this island. It is difficult at times and I know from the Northern Ireland context there is nervousness in civic society about entering this space; community and voluntary sector nervousness. I would say to get involved, to join in. The best way to shape this debate is to participate and engage, not to be afraid and to step into this space. But that is where leadership is required, including from the Irish Government, to allow people to do that.

Senator McDowell spoke of the clarity of the proposition. That is absolutely right. The theme of my presentation has been the need for planning and preparation in order to ensure that when I am asked the question that I know the consequences of my answer. I have a sort-of idea of what way I might go but I would like to know in a lot of detail about what that means. But we need to get on with it. We cannot sit around speculating about the Secretary of State in London. We know enough now to get prepared and ready.

Senator Craughwell raised questions around referendums and the number of referendums, and whether you say “referendums” or “referenda”. There is a really live debate as to what happens before the referendum and what happens afterwards, for example, the suggestion that you might have a constitutional convention after the referendum so perhaps people who did not participate, felt uncomfortable participating or were focused on advocating the pro-union side before the referendum may feel more comfortable joining after a referendum has taken place and there is a vote for change. There is a real live debate as to how you manage all that but underpinning all of that is the need for participation, engagement and involvement of all communities on this island.