Frances Black (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have to start by thanking Dr. Mitchell for being here, for staying overnight, for getting childminders and all of that, for her very thoughtful engagement with the ongoing constitutional conversation and for sharing her experiences and knowledge with the committee. I absolutely acknowledge the wonderful book Dr. Mitchell has written and I think everybody should read it, in particular, everybody in the Oireachtas, because the way it is written is phenomenal. It saddens me sometimes to think it was so brave of all those women to come forward in the book and that it has come to that - that they have to be brave to do it and that it is even in that place. I thank Dr. Mitchell for all of that.

Deputy Conway-Walsh has asked a lot of the questions I wanted to touch on. The one question I wanted to ask concerns an engagement with a group which came down from Belfast and it was called uncomfortable conversations. They were amazing. It was mind-blowing. We should take something like that and expand it. I do not know whether the Chair, Deputy O'Dowd, was present but it was really powerful. It was an informal Good Friday meeting and it was so powerful. People from the Shankill Road and across the community from north Belfast and west Belfast were present. For me, it was a real eye-opener.

The questions asked of us, particularly by the unionist community, were: "What will we get out of it? You are talking about united Ireland so what will it look like for us?" I think that is the question. I am back and forth to the North. My family are up in Rathlin Island and I am up there all of the time. I was there for Easter. There is that question of what would it look like. What would health and housing look like? They are always the questions that come up.

The focus is on the words "new Ireland" , and I think those words were used. Language is very important, but what would Dr. Mitchell's priorities be in a new, united Ireland. If the aim is to achieve real change, what would she like to see?