Professor Seamus McGuinness:

I agree we need to start off with an overall Green Paper that sets the parameters of what needs to be addressed. What are the key information areas that people need certainty around? Health and education are the big issues, as well as the economy. Social welfare is another big issue. There are also issues around political structures and policing that would need to be addressed. The Green Paper would be there to set out the parameters but, ultimately, such is the scale and nature of the planning challenge that there needs to be a Government Department established that takes responsibility for the planning process. It needs to have a cross-departmental remit. It needs to oversee and commission the research that needs to be done and to be responsible, at the end of the day, for collating that information in a way that is fully understandable to voters. That is what we want to get to at the end of the day. We want people walking into voting booths on the morning of a border poll who have certainty around the implications of that vote in terms of how services are going to change, the likely costs and likely benefits. Those are the minimum requirements moving forward.