Mr. Shaun Henry:

We are all very mindful of the low educational attainment in some of the most deprived neighbourhoods, whether that be in inner city areas, rural areas or in the Border region. When children leave the school system without obtaining qualifications, it very much limits their lifetime opportunities and leaves them vulnerable to becoming involved in a range of activity that works against the aims and objectives of the peace process. We are aware and mindful of that. However, we are also mindful of the very limited budgets we will have available. We are aware of a number of Government initiatives both within Ireland and within Northern Ireland to try to address this issue of educational under-attainment. We are aware of the complexity of the issues because it involves not only interventions within the school, but very often interventions within the home environment.

As I said previously, we are trying to identify how a peace programme can add value to the educational experience of young people. That added value is likely to involve building trust, tolerance and respect for difference. We need to ensure young people leaving our educational system have a value system that enables them to make a positive contribution to a diverse society. We are trying to identify that type of added value in our consultations with the relevant authorities, North and South.

It is worth noting that we are in discussions with the institutes of technology in the Border region and with other third level institutes within Northern Ireland to explore how they could participate in the future INTERREG programme and in particular to explore the potential of increasing their capacity in research and innovation. We believe the INTERREG programme may hold out opportunities to boost the research capacity of the institutes of technology and through that could have a very positive impact on the Border region economy.