Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ms O'Donnell mentioned in her summary that Brexit poisoned the well. In one sense it certainly did, but it has also changed the agenda in the context of what different people are saying. Obviously, the big pressure or debate from a nationalist point of view is when and if a border poll will take place. The difficulty about that is to prepare for that, and if there was such a poll that it would be successful. It will only be successful if the unionists and those people who will come after David Trimble in the DUP and elsewhere, agree to it. That is the big challenge for us. If I picked up correctly on Ms O'Donnell's point, I agree that we now need to give unionist people reassurance for the future and to build on that by meeting and talking to them. That is a huge issue we as a committee are trying to deal with. It is the big thing that is not happening.