Dr. Claire Mitchell:

Gabhaim buíochas le Senator Black for her questions. I thank her for commending the bravery of the people in the book. They really took a risk. We find that in participating in that project, we have, to some degree, liberated ourselves from that fear through finding a community to walk beside, with each other but also with all the people, including the Senator, who have stepped in to support us in the new relationships we have formed. Those conversations, friendships and relationships are what a new Ireland will be built on.

I loved the uncomfortable conversations reference. I think sometimes people in the North are seen as the crazy angry cousins but the North actually has so much to offer. We are very good at uncomfortable conversations. We are resilient and have a lot of humour and grit. We know how to talk very sensitively with people who have experienced the deepest of traumas and loss. That is something the North could perhaps bring to the South. Partition has distanced us and it would be lovely to have more of those conversations with one another. The Taoiseach made the comment the other day about familiarity with Berlin and Paris versus Belfast and Derry. That probably is somewhat of a reality. I would love to see how surprised people are when they find how normal and okay these conversations will feel with unionists and loyalists, not just radical Protestants like me.

What would I like to see in the new Ireland? Deputy Conway-Walsh read out a little bit about a second republic, which I have been told not to say because it is little bit too radical and potentially a thing of fear. This is a wonderful Republic. The history of the Easter Rising and how Irish independence was won matters a lot to me. I think the sense, and this is reflected in the language of a new Ireland, is that it would be something new and it would be rebuilt, not just tagged on.

I do not know if it is okay to speak about structures. Stephen Farry asked a question about how we can get away from these two binary camps that trap us in identities and political groupings that people have long since outgrown. I would hate to see those structures replicated in a new Ireland. It is incredibly important that unionists feel safe and comfortable but I think we could do that in a rights-based context in negotiation with the British state, for example, through the retention of British citizenship, without embedding groups that must always have a veto. It is not that I think unionists will need protection. I think they will very quickly find political and ideological friends who would argue for the same kinds of outcomes in the context of a reunified Ireland. I would love for the structures not to be too tied down or sectarian in their construction because that is exactly what we are trying to get away from in the North. It secured the peace but it is not securing us good politics or a good democracy.

Health and the word “care” are incredibly important when I think of a new Ireland. I met my best friend from UCD last night and we were comparing our experiences of trying to get a GP appointment and what it was like to go to a dentist. Our experiences are very similar. The NHS has crumbled to a point where, while it is excellent in certain circumstances, in other circumstances, we would probably be better off in the kind of healthcare system in place in the South. Huge promises about Sláintecare should not be made, for example, that it will be wonderful and immediate. Unionists and Northerners are canny. We know that resources are limited for all the things we want and certainly the word "care" in "social care" will not be possible. Just having real talk about those kinds of issues would make a big difference in trust, so reduce the bling and promises of sunlit uplands and be honest about what might be possible.

I absolutely believe that Northerners would have much more of a say in our own lives. I have never voted in the context of a reunified Ireland. I have never voted for a government that has governed me and I am almost 50 years old. We are governed by Westminster. There is nothing we can do to change the budgets or substantially reallocate things to have the kind of society that we want. I have come to believe that the Assembly is quite toothless, to the point that it often makes the situation worse because everybody, on both sides, is so keen to get the camps and votes that they are scared to make difficult decisions.

Finally, an Ireland that can talk truthfully about what is happening to the environment would be incredibly important. We have passed the 1.5°C warming threshold and are probably heading for 2°C warming. I looked at a map the other day but I would need to check again if it we are heading for 3°C warming. This will happen and it will not take us very long to get there. Ireland was not one island; it was hundreds of islands. That reality has not been factored into these conversations about a new Ireland. I do not think the UK has factored them in. I think Scotland is beginning to grapple with these realities.

What does sovereignty really look like? It is not a nation once again. For me, it will be boat building, food security and, living in the North, Lough Neagh and having drinking water for my family. Those are the issues that are easy to pretend are future issues for our children to sort out. However, I think we can see in our lives, with the floods, crop failures around the world, increasing prices and so on, that those issues are coming at us much more quickly than we intend. I would love to see a new Ireland that was thought of as an ecological unit and in which we had honest conversations about how we can survive that together.