Dr. Stephen Farry:

It is good to see Claire again. This is all fascinating. Speaking from the Alliance Party's perspective, I wish to clarify that we do not take a position on the constitutional question but we are open-minded. We very much are aware of the open and fluid debate. We certainly very much welcome Dr. Mitchell's comments and perspective on this debate and what she has brought to it personally.

I want to explore more deeply issues around identity in Ireland. In Dr. Mitchell's answer to the Chair she touched upon the impact on the history of the island over the past 100 years in terms of polarisation of identity. To get a sense of the scale of diversity we have had, people often talk about surnames that are associated with Gaelic Ireland versus those associated with plantation families but all of a sudden those names jump across into what we would have assumed to be people from different backgrounds. For example, there are people from all the different political persuasions in Northern Ireland with the name McGuinness. Gerry Adams has what is essentially a Scottish name. All of that points to a much deeper complexity in our history. I am sure Dr. Mitchell very closely identifies with that. I have the impression that through history there have been a lot more mixed marriages or mixed relationships but, rather than living mixed, multiple, plural lives, people have been forced by various factors in our society to almost choose a side. Sometimes a husband or, more easily, a wife has been forced to assume the identity of his or her spouse.

Usually a wife has been forced to assume the identity of her husband. Does Dr. Mitchell have a sense of the scale of how those sorts of historical trends have occurred? Coming to where we are today, how can we push back against the narrative that someone's religious, national or political identity all have to reconcile? I mean in the sense that if you are a Catholic, you are Irish and a nationalist and if you are a Protestant, you are a unionist and British. How can we better recognise there is a lot more crossover in that particular respect?