Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will begin by thanking the witnesses for this interesting body of work. I ask them to supply the methodology section to the committee. I know they have said it is available, but it is at the heart of a lot of what we asked about today. A lot of the information has already been commented on, and it is interesting. I will draw out one point, which is whether they think Northern Ireland should have representatives who would sit as MEPs in the European Parliament. I will be honest and say I think that is a wrong question. The European Movement Ireland is asking something that it knows is not legally possible. If you are not a member of the European Union, you cannot have MEPs in the Parliament. I understand that people desire to see Northern Ireland in the European Union, as we all would. However, in terms of poll methodology, the witnesses must know when posing the question that they are asking people to express an opinion one way or another on something that is not possible. They are certainly not spelling out that it is not possible until some point in the future the United Kingdom rejoins the European Union, or Northern Ireland rejoins as part of a united Ireland, whichever comes sooner. I think the united Ireland will come sooner than the UK rejoining. I heard Alistair Campbell say he does not think it will happen before 2040 or something like that. Anyway, that would be the one thing.

I am also interested to know if the European Movement Ireland will do a cross-sectional viewpoint on involvement in European defence and the question of a united Ireland within the EU. Is there a section asking about attitudes to neutrality in that situation? Is it something that would have to change, and what are the views in Northern Ireland on that? It is obviously now part of a country, which is an integral part of a defence system. That might be an interesting one. The witnesses asked if there were any questions. Those are my comments, but it is an excellent body of work.