Professor Peter Shirlow:

I was in the Seanad Chamber a week ago, also praising the shared island initiative so I have some thoughts about that. As I said earlier, I am from a pro-unionist background and I think this is the type of inter-dependency and the type of connection that I voted for in 1998. I wanted this island to work and join itself together and to work against the harmful impacts of partition on those relationships. The shared island initiative is critically important. It can give majority support for a North-South relationship, shared prosperity and the building of new economic futures. It is a new space for civic leadership, which was very dented during the conflict. Politicians and media filled that space. Civic society walked away a lot from the conflict. It was dangerous to engage in political pronouncements and activity. I think that is very important. It is not divisive. If you want a united Ireland, it can help build a Northern Ireland which makes constitutional change easier. It can help build a Northern Ireland which means constitutional change is not needed. It can give that sort of cross-community support because it is future orientated. It is about restoring the relationships destroyed by partition. It is a accelerator of those inter-connections and it is critically important. It is notable that the recent NESC report pointed out that this type of all-island connection is possible and that this could happen without constitutional change or without demands for a Border poll. The report shows that it is possible to create the realpolitik of building a more shared society and shared island.

One thing we forget about the protocol, when we get into the debacle of the protocol and the arguments arising out of it, is that it extended the capacity for North-South arrangements. It also protected rights. The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland was given extra funding by an Act of parliament to protect rights. One of the things we actually have is that one portion of the protocol has become the debate and the argument. Many of the aspects actually show mutuality between Great Britain and Ireland because they signed this together. They show that the British were prepared to support more North-South development and to protect rights by giving the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland certain roles, obligations and positions. That is forgotten. When we go back to that document and see what is in it, the potential of this shared island initiative is very important.