Mr. Padraic White:

I agree that such an approach would be useful. The draft charter includes innovative ideas for developing new high-tech industries of the future that involve collaboration between the two third level sectors, which would involve institutes of technology and so on. There would be a natural tendency to build those around Derry, Letterkenny, Dundalk and Monaghan. As Mr. Gough mentioned, there is a concept of creating clusters of like-minded industries, whether in furniture, fabrication or whatever. All those potentials are there but the dialogue is not really encouraged to commence, partly because the relevant state agencies on either side of the Border, namely, Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland, have no mandate to collaborate on these issues.