Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent)

I welcome Ms O’Connell and Ms Hayes and thank them for the presentation. It is always good to get an independent viewpoint of European Union views over the years. Historically, we have been one of the strongest supporters of the European Union over a period but, as with other areas, it has declined. There was a bit of an increase a couple years back and it has gone back to a level. The figure 82% in the European context is excellent but given that there is greater suspicion of authority and less faith in government, and we can see that in the results in the poll in terms of Northern Ireland’s support for the UK Government, support for the Irish Government and people not trusting to greater capacities, it is interesting that even though people have issues with the European Union and whether it is going the right direction, the European Union is seen as a reliable, trustworthy organisation in general, even if a person disagrees with where it is going.

I have two specific questions. One relates, not surprisingly, to the Northern Ireland results. While support for Irish unity has been on an upward trend in other polls, this seems to be an outlier in that sense. Is it in the context of the way the question was framed, as a united Ireland within the European Union? Is there any information in the raw data as to whether people refused to answer this question in some cases and whether the cohort who answered it might be more sympathetic? I am just trying to work my way around how come this is a different result from that of the other polls.

Second, I am asking this question of the witnesses’ group as an organisation that is trying to get information out to people about the European project and trying to engage in a positive way. Given that migration has come up both in Northern Ireland and in the South of Ireland, what are their views as to what needs to be done, either from an Irish governmental context or from a European Union context, to make this less of an issue? It is very subjective that people who expressed these views are not being listened to with regard to migration. Can the witnesses go into a bit more detail? Are these people looking for a tougher migration policy? Is there any information that suggests they are looking for a more nuanced approach?