Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I add my voice to the condolences on the tragic death of Christopher Stalford. I offer my condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

The Taoiseach and I have had a number of interactions about citizens' assemblies. He knows where I stand and I know where he stands. He has stated that he does not believe there is sufficient depth in a citizens' assembly to deal with the issue of unity and what unity would look like. He has spoken about the shared island dialogue. In what way could the shared island dialogue be expanded to encompass what we would like to see in a citizens' assembly, which should allow all stakeholders to have a full conversation around Irish unity? It is already happening in the wider world anyway. When does the Taoiseach foresee us having a significant amount of the modelling work, following research being done with funding from the shared island unit, that could provide us with the tools to look at changes that could be operated within Departments and to provide a model of Irish unity?

See this speech in context