Mr. John Bruton:

The Constitution obliges the Government to be more than just neutral. The Government has an obligation to facilitate movement towards Irish unity. Whether it arrives at that destination is another matter, but it has to be done on the basis that there has to be consent from a majority of the people in Northern Ireland to any outcome.

On being a persuader, what persuades? One has to ask oneself, what would persuade unionists to want to be ruled from Dublin rather than London? I have always felt, including during my time as Taoiseach, that unionists have better friends in Dublin than London. We are nearer to them physically and culturally.

We are not nearer to them religiously or in terms of historic memory but we are nearer to them in many respects. The relative scale of the two communities on the island of Ireland, and there are two communities at least, is such that unionists are not going to be overwhelmed as much in an all-Ireland context as they would be in an all-UK context. They probably do not see it that way at this stage. We must be patient. They will not necessarily see it that way in ten, 15 or 20 years from now either. We have got to be patient in trying to create the conditions in which they will feel fully comfortable. This may mean we have to become a bit uncomfortable. As I said in my opening address, we made a fetish of getting rid of the monarchy when in fact it could have been a bridge in certain contexts. We made a fetish about the Irish language. It is important but it did exclude unionists. Our flag depends on how it is interpreted. It is peace between orange and green but, unfortunately, it is a flag that has been waved at so many political accounts by one party in such a fashion as to make it almost a partisan banner. This is something that has to change if we are to persuade, as the Vice Chair aptly put it.