Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

A citizens' assembly does not achieve that. On the British-Irish Association, I do not know if Deputy Carthy has ever attended it, but I have done so, on and off, for 30 years. I missed ten years of it because as I was in government and I did not get the opportunity to attend. During that time, even one weekend in Oxford, I would have met more people and professionals who had different perspectives and different experiences on the North. That educated and informed me. It gave me a broader breadth of experience and expertise. I do not think anything can replace that. If anything, as a Parliament, we should intensify our engagement on those fronts. We should put all of the ideologies to one side and meet people and try to prove to people that we can achieve an awful lot more together that we can divided.

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