Fiscal Policy
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-21
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Pearse Doherty (SF), Donegal

I agree completely with the Deputy on this question. It is really welcome that this has come down. I acknowledge the Tánaiste's comments on this. We all acknowledge the shared island unit and the work it is doing but the question we need to ask ourselves is whether we believe we are enablers of bringing about constitutional change in a system that operates under the Good Friday Agreement and with consent, and most if not all of the people in this House believe we are. Therefore, we have to do the preparatory work.
These are complex issues and it should not be left to academics, the ESRI or others to do this. We have to find a way and a space and we must recognise the space we will occupy in doing this but we must find a space to carry out some of this work. I think back to when Simon Coveney was competing for leadership of Fine Gael. He spoke about setting up a committee to look at this and talked about papers, and I thought it was a very good argument. We have lost time. This is coming down the tracks and we have to be prepared so I really welcome this debate.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-21