Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I share the concerns of colleagues on the deeply shocking revelations in last night's "RTÉ Investigates" programme. I am conscious that Deputy Seán Crowe, the Chair of the Joint Committee on Health, is convening that committee this afternoon to consider how it will react and take next steps on this issue. I have no doubt it is something the Seanad will revisit in the coming period.

In my lifetime I do not recall a period quite like the one we are living through, in which the constitutional future of this country is debated with such frequency and fluency in so many different quarters. There is not a week that goes by that the popularity of a united Ireland is not tested in an opinion poll or reflected in an article in a newspaper, in academic research or across traditional and social media platforms.

The debate is correctly covering all aspects of society. These include: the need for an independent Ireland to be based on equality, inclusion and human rights; the need to involve the people of Ireland by holding referendums North and South; the setting up of a citizens' assembly to provide a venue to debate how we plan the future; the views of the unionist, loyalist and Protestant people and their place in a new independent Ireland; the economic benefits of independence and the importance of the economy being climate-centred; the future of the Irish language; the need for an Irish national health service now; and what kind of political structures there should be in a new Ireland. Should there be a single parliament based here in Dublin or a federated system with parliaments in Belfast and Dublin?

The debate has energy, vision, novel ideas and optimism. It is national and involves all ages and genders.Take as an example the past five days alone, where we got a glimpse of the energy in the debate on the future of this country. We saw it on RTÉ's "Claire Byrne Live" when 90 minutes were devoted on national television to discussing the pros and cons of a united Ireland. We saw it in the Oireachtas at Tuesday's meeting of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement when the eminent legal experts Professor Colin Harvey and Mr. Mark Bassett presented their roadmap to unity. We saw it in the thorough and thoughtful speech by Deputy Jim O'Callaghan of Fianna Fáil, entitled "The political, economic and legal consequences of Irish reunification". Our colleague, Senator McDowell, has written similar papers. We saw it in the major conference, involving eight councils from Dublin to Belfast and all in between, promoting the Dublin-Belfast economic corridor. We saw it in the latest document launched by Ireland's Future, which explored the economic benefits of reunification. Just yesterday, we saw it in the shared island unit's discussion about the need for a citizens' assembly on this issue.

The nation is speaking about our country's future. Let us make our contribution to this debate. At a critical time when Brexit was threatening to destabilise the two economies on this island, the Seanad set up a committee to investigate the implications of Brexit. Its report made a valuable contribution to mapping a way calmly through threats and settling troubled minds across the country. The Seanad should set up a new Ireland committee to make its contribution to mapping a way calmly from where we are now to a new and independent society. That is a suggestion which resonated with the Leader of the previous Seanad as well as the leaders of other groups. This is a dynamic debate and we have a role to play. We should have a thoughtful exchange about how we play it.