Mr. Niall Murphy:

We have engaged with people from a cultural Protestant, unionist, loyalist background who are democrats and understand and appreciate what the Good Friday Agreement means. All of us collectively appreciate and will protect the peace which is so valuable to all of us. There is sometimes reticence in some of the consultations that we have had. We have a series of ongoing confidential conversations that we have undertaken, which will remain confidential, with a view to building confidence, increasing levels of understanding, and dismantling some fears and myths which are honestly and genuinely held. It is a positive opportunity to do that, which we embrace. There are many misconceptions about what a new nation might look like but there is also an opportunity in those conversations to provide assurance that there will be an honest and genuine respect for the British identity in a new Ireland. We have to recall and appreciate the political reality that that will be a substantive constituency in a new political arrangement and that that, in and of itself, means that their own voice may be significant in the mechanics of the electoral cycles.

I will not attempt to speak for unionism other than to say that I will publicly observe that unionism and unionist people are noble. They are my friends, neighbours and work colleagues. I do not want any new constitutional dispensation to be one where there is any sense that they feel that their citizenship is being eroded, much less denied, or that their identity is not cherished. We need to work with those important concepts to understand and appreciate what their concerns are. Whereas we will undertake and continue to undertake public and confidential conversations, the most natural and appropriate place for those concerns to be articulated is in an all-island citizens' assembly. Political unionism will grapple with the potential for a constitutional change. That difficulty needs to be respected and given as much understanding and latitude as possible.

Changes have happened and are happening on our island. Brexit has changed everything forever. Constitutional change is already upon these islands by virtue of Brexit. Our democratic expression was ignored, which is a grave difficulty that we have had to endure on this island. We need to work together to make sure that all voices and identities are genuinely heard. I emphasise the word "genuinely". It cannot be lip service. I would not want to encourage the inception of any new constitutional arrangement where anybody felt that their identity was lessened, cheapened or not afforded appropriate respect because that is an experience that I have lived. It is a lived experience for people of an Irish identity in the North. I would oppose that as strenuously in a post-reunification scenario as I promote the enrichment of our own culture at present.