Mr. Conor Murphy:

I welcome everyone to the committee. I am sure there are many who have had long-standing relations arising from this project. The argument over its benefits is not an issue, those are accepted by all but a small minority. I was up Slieve Martin a few weeks ago and passed the new bicycle trail. The majority of cars parked there were from Waterford, Kilkenny and similar areas, with people coming on a Sunday morning because it is easier to get through Newry to access the Warrenpoint side of the lough. We can see the potential investments for the Mourne Mountains area by both councils to attract visitors and have an exchange up and down the east coast.

I know from my experience as the Minister for Regional Development for four years that there is no technical or environmental issue that could not be addressed; it is down to the Department of Finance and Personnel giving the go-ahead. If officials are not given political direction to move, they have a habit of allowing things to stagnate. It is clearly a matter of political direction being given at senior level in the Department of Finance and Personnel to get this over the last hurdle. A huge amount has been done, particularly by Louth County Council, which has carried the project. There was a time when many people thought this was pie in the sky but it carried it right through and brought it to the point where it secured the crucial funding from Europe. It is a matter of the Department of Finance and Personnel in the North stepping up to the plate on this.

I assume the two chambers want elected representatives on both sides of the Border to use this committee's influence to apply pressure. We will ask the Taoiseach to raise this directly with the First and Deputy First Ministers and will ask the Minister for Finance to raise it with his counterpart in the North. The committee should apply whatever pressure it can on this because the economic benefits are clear. The great pity would be if this is missed because of some bureaucratic stagnation. It is not just the loss of the benefit but the loss of the funding for the area from the EU would be massive and the reputation of both Administrations when it comes to accessing EU money would be damaged, which would have implications for funding for Ireland as a whole. We are happy to hear from the chambers of commerce about what they would like the committee to do to press support for this case.