Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh Dr. Mitchell. I thank her for coming in today. I have listened to her in the audiovisual room before this as well. What she has done is really enlightening. Anything we can do to broaden the conversation around constitutional change and the future of this country is really important. It is really important to include as many different voices and perspectives as possible. She has opened the door to doing that as have some initiatives to which she has referred. It can be hard to reach certain elements of the community, especially women. She has said there is a fear in the community from those who are perhaps a little bit louder about expressing their true opinions. It is about trying to find how best to overcome that because I am sure it is still very difficult for many to speak out. Does Dr. Mitchell feel it is becoming any way easier, as a result of her book and other initiatives, for people to come forward and express their opinions? She identified that people have a fear around Irish unity. Is that fear just based on something like people saying that as their nationality is British, they want to maintain the Union although they have not actually looked at the issues that affect us all? There is a lot more that unites the people on the ground than divides us. There are things like healthcare, childcare, the cost of living and housing and so on and all the ordinary issues that affect us all the same. We need to get the conversations around those issues. What exactly is the fear that people have about discussing the future of Ireland? Is it just the fear of being ostracised in their community for even discussing it or is there a fear about some other elements?