Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I call on the Acting Leader to organise a debate in respect of unifying the people of Ireland. There was an interesting RTE "Prime Time" and BBC opinion poll carried out for what Tommy Gorman, on "Morning Ireland", described as a show rather than an actual serious debate. According to the poll, there are many issues that unite us in terms of civil rights and other issues. Obviously, many things are dividing the people on this island as well. The substantive issue is that of unity. It should be remembered that a previous BBC opinion poll, taken nine months before the Scottish referendum, showed that only 20% were in favour of independence. When the actual referendum was held nine months later, however, but for a 6% swing, the Scots would have ended the 300-year union. Of course, the close outcome in this instance came down to the arguments made by those in Scotland who were in favour of independence at the time.Last night's poll showed that 73% of people down here are in favour of a unified Ireland in their lifetimes. I suggest that the Senators on both sides of the House who are members of parties that have the achievement of this goal as an aim should work together to that end. I was interested to look at some of the statistics in this regard. Mark Twain famously said that facts are stubborn but statistics are more pliable.