Professor Fidelma Ashe:

I thank the Senator for her questions. I am aware of the work of Professor Jennifer Todd and Dr. Joanne McEvoy.

We have similar findings. I do not know if Professor Todd or Dr. McEvoy mentioned this, but the projects we are involved in are really labour-intensive. I cannot stress that enough. From a personal point of view, the funding we have received over the years - I think we have been funded by different funders for about four years now - is really insufficient, and the projects are very labour-intensive, especially for the lead academics. It takes a lot of resources to be able to do this. There is the preparatory work. As members can imagine, one cannot just storm into a community group and say, "We are going to talk about a unity referendum or have a constitutional debate." One has to take baby steps, gain people's trust, establish a relationship with them and then work from those foundations towards starting to shape some sort of dialogic space in which they will feel comfortable. There are, therefore, no shortcuts here but, as I said during the presentation, there are some international examples of large-scale participatory programmes. I have been working with Eilish Rooney on a plan and a shape for a civic education programme that could work across the Border. That will be to provide an educational space where people could be informed and able to find answers to the questions to which they want answers. We have worked up a model of what that might look like.

The other aspect of our work has been to develop, taking small steps, an expert library. We have interviewed academics, and every single one of them was more than happy to be involved. For example, there are people doing research on health and the economy and very current research on the media and on other referendums, such as the Scottish one. We have been able to interview them and ask them questions and they have been able to respond in a very accessible way. That gives the grassroots direct access to expert information. That is another aspect that could be built up such that we could have that resource for people and they would not have to be physically present but could use virtual environments. That would be another important aspect of any strategy going forward.