Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I thank all the witnesses. There probably will be an element of agreement at this meeting that none of us can see David Frost's renaissance due to Brexit at this point in time. The difficulties that exist within political unionism as regards their view of the Irish protocol already have been mentioned. To a degree, I believe that it is a cul-de-sac that will create difficulties for unionism itself. That being what it is, I obviously am highly wary of relying on the British Government as an interlocutor. It has done a poor job over any period in Irish history, whether that is the last 100 years, 800 years or whatever. The democratic deficit that exists in respect of the North, as well as the lack of representation, needs to be dealt with. In fairness, to Maroš Šefovi, when the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement, TCA, was going through the Parliament, he agreed that there needed to be some sort of remedy to that and he spoke about it. There is an onus on all of us to play what part we can to deal with that democratic deficit.

I would be interested to learn what are the main takeaways from the research or survey the Centre for Cross Border Studies has carried out. As for the operations of the protocol, we know where political unionism stands. However, we have heard from many quarters, and I have heard it myself, that a significant number of people from a unionist background who work in civil society, business or farming are looking to get by in life and to get by in business. They are looking to do the best to mitigate and deal with the difficulties. I am interested in the groups with which the witnesses have had interactions on a cross-Border basis. Where do the witnesses perceive civil society, businesses, farmers and all those other stakeholders to be when the political sphere is taken away? I seek an answer to that question, as well as, in particular, on the main takeaways from the ins and outs of what the survey has thrown up?