Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)

I am grateful to the Minister of State for his openness and frankness and the honesty with which he brings his considerable experience, which is very understated and shows the humility of the man I know.

I appreciate this issue will not change overnight. All I attempted to do was stimulate debate based on historical evidence which suggests that under the current terms of reference, and those that will be proposed, and subject to constitutional provisions, the retention of county boundaries will not be as guaranteed as we would like. Therefore, I agree with the Minister of State on the need to bring this debate to the constitutional convention because it affects us all. As the Minister of State correctly stated, the adherence to county boundaries is very strong and deep in the culture and psyche of the Irish people. I am firmly of the opinion that even with the best will in the world, the language used creates a let out clause as it states "in so far as is practicable" which is also used in the Constitution but not referred to in the previous Acts. I will not labour the point but I am grateful to the Minister of State for giving time and his considerable experience and expertise to this matter.