Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Deputy Micheál Martin and I disagree on a lot and clash a lot but I very much agree with his analysis and comments on this matter. We should not forget what the Good Friday Agreement settlement is all about. It is about acknowledging that Northern Ireland has a unique history and geography and, therefore, has special arrangements - power sharing in Northern Ireland, North-South co-operation structured through the North South Ministerial Council and east-west co-operation through the British Irish Council and the British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference.

It is a good model and while it may not be functioning at the moment, it is still the best model for our generation, rather than dividing people and forcing them to choose between territorial unity or reincorporation into the UK.

When it comes to the whole issue of a citizens' assembly, as I have said before, it is certainly not something that I rule out and is something to which I will give consideration. At the right point in time, as Deputy Howlin suggested, perhaps I will call the party leaders together about the matter. It is a sensitive time now, however, because we are only two weeks or so from Westminster elections, which are happening in Northern Ireland as well as in Great Britain. The Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive are not functioning and the Brexit withdrawal agreement is in the balance. We might find ourselves in a very different place in two or three months' time, in a more stable situation and a better political environment to progress these kinds of ideas.

One thing we need to bear in mind and ask ourselves is whether unionists would participate in a citizens' assembly. One million unionists make up half the population of Northern Ireland and a significant minority on this island. Would British citizens living in Northern Ireland participate in such a citizens' assembly? If not, that would fundamentally change the nature of the assembly because it would seek to discuss the constitutional future of this island absent the representatives of those 1 million people. It would then be a pan-nationalist assembly and not an assembly of all the citizens of Ireland. It would have a very different nature to that which many of us would like to see.

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