Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to get back to the nub of the questions. I thought we had a broad agreement last week on an invitation to an inclusive dialogue without preconditions for people to ask about the implications of this profound change in the status of the United Kingdom for the people on the island of Ireland. We invited people, whether farmers, industrialists, workers or employers, to come and talk to us. Over the weekend that seemed to change. The suspicion of Unionists and the dismissal by the DUP of the proposal were not well handled and it was not the Taoiseach's finest moment. Notwithstanding that, the linking of this notion to the idea that it might speed up a Border poll and somehow hasten a vote on unity move what was suspicion to a feeling of being threatened. This damages the prospect of it being as inclusive as we would want. It has been characterised as a Sinn Féin proposition.

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