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

I have been very impressed by the work both Professor Todd and Dr. McAvoy have done. They have stimulated a lot of ideas and debate here. I visit the North occasionally and one of the issues I find is that I often end up in these cold halls on estates in the middle of nowhere with very poor infrastructure, and with young people who are completely involved in a struggle to live, to try to get a job and an education. Many of these communities are riddled with drugs and crime. These places are the same in the North as they are in the South and the only difference might be the religion or the flag that might be flying in the local community. One of the key points the witnesses are making, which is very important, is that when we are talking about what a united Ireland would look like in healthcare provision, is how we deal with the drug problem, North and South? Can we work together to fight it? What is the best practice in wherever that is?

The other thing I find with young people and some of their community leaders is that, notwithstanding that they know the political system, they are often not really part of it or they do not feel that they share in the decisions made about their community. That is also a key issue for me.

When the witnesses talk about pairing schools and bringing local councils and groups together and continuing that, and taking the point about developing the shared island unit's activities, I believe that is hugely important and could be hugely beneficial but it has to have broad support and impact and it must be resourced.

The other question on constitutional change, to which the witnesses referred, is there are constitutional models and many different options. The united Ireland or part of the United Kingdom positions no longer hold sway North or South now. We, as a society, have to come up with practical alternatives that respect the traditions on both sides and that can be debated. The difficulty with all of this is that when the institutions in the state are not functioning, such as when the executive and the North-South bodies are not working and east-west relations, while they are improving, are still tepid in some places; how do we then get change unless we get political engagement? Many unionists will not engage because the constitutional question for them is not a place they want to go to. If we could show them in the South, perhaps, a bit of light, this might reassure them and, at the same time, get a consensus for a closer future together. I do not know if that makes sense to the witnesses or if they wish to comment on that. That is what I am thinking about, for what it is worth.

We will leave our discussion there as I believe all of our members have participated. I thank the witnesses for attending.