Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)

I acknowledge the work of the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, in this space. I recognise it and his interest in reunification. That is important because what we are discussing is much bigger than party politics. It is reckless and negligent for the Taoiseach not to play the role he needs to play right now in terms of preparation. Everybody agrees that we need to prepare. Everywhere one goes, one hears that we need to prepare but that preparation is not being done in the way it needs to be done by Government. The Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement told the Taoiseach exactly what he needs to do. The committee told him what he needs to do on the Green Paper, sector-by-sector engagement, citizens' assemblies and the setting up of a joint Oireachtas committee. It is his colleagues who have agreed this. I acknowledge the work of Deputies Emer Currie and Brendan Smith in respect of that but there is a blockage there at the level of An Taoiseach and I ask the Minister of State and Fine Gael to call him out on it because what he is doing is reckless.

We need to be able to answer key questions. Whether they are unionists, nationalists, republicans or whatever, people need to be able to answer what an all-island health service will look like, what an education system across the island will look like and what will be the economic benefits. We now have the macroeconomic model done by the Economic and Social Research Institute, which is a game-changer in the context of what we can do with the data available to us. We have absolute evidence. When we go for a Border poll, a referendum, on Irish unity, which will be sooner than many think, people will need to be able to answer those questions. For the Government not to be doing the work now is absolutely wrong.

We have the answers regarding what needs to be done, but we need a framework. We also need not to reinvent the wheel all the time. We need to be able to do additionality on all those questions. From the work we did on the finance and economic section and women and the constitution, we know that what is coming from women - north, south, east or west - is that they want to be part of shaping a new and united Ireland. We have a responsibility that needs to be taken seriously, and that has to start now. We are not doing anyone any favours. I hear it said that we had better not frighten the unionists. That is crazy. We will not do the unionist community any favours if we do not tell them what they can expect from a united Ireland.

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