Mr. Paddy Malone:

My apologies. That is another new term for me. I will deal with the Brexit issue first. I am old enough to remember when a person's tyres were marked when crossing the Border so that he or she did not buy new tyres in the North, where they were cheaper. On occasion customs would dip a person's petrol tank to check how much petrol was in the vehicle, take an odometer reading and work out whether petrol had been bought when across the Border. There were long queues of traffic waiting to get clearance before entering Northern Ireland.

It was such that it came back into Dundalk, three miles away, and it took between two and two and a half hours to cross. It would cut out using Larne for a considerable number of exporting businesses in the region, including Baileys' suppliers in Kingscourt, County Cavan. Instead of sending goods through Larne or Warrenpoint, they would have to be sent through Dublin Port, which is already overcrowded. That is the business side of the issue.

Problems would also arise in exchange controls and the movement of capital, which could become an absolute nightmare. Nothing works when it is broken in half. In 1920 Dundalk was booming and probably the only industrial town in the South, with the exception of Dublin and Cork.However, it went into decline because it was separated from its natural hinterland. If this were to happen again, it would cause crippling damage not only in Dundalk but also in Newry, as a considerable number of businesses in Newry rely on Dundalk sub-suppliers and vice versa. Anything that impedes business or the mobility of capital constitutes a serious blow.

The question of taxes is also relevant to business. Standardisation of VAT rates would bring huge benefits, while the standardisation of our currencies would be even more beneficial. Currency fluctuations can cause greater differences than changes in VAT rates. Changes in VAT rates are perceived as dramatic because people see a movement of 1% or 2% and the newspapers give the subject huge publicity. However, a movement of 5% between sterling and the euro is hardly noticed. Stability is the most important consideration. If one travels around Jonesborough and Cullaville, or through south Armagh into Newry and Down, one will see a succession of filling stations built in the past 15 years but which are now derelict. On the southern side one will see brand new filling stations with busy delis. All we need is a change of Government in the United Kingdom and the situation would be reversed. This boom-and-bust cycle will not generate growth in the long term, but we will be fine if we can achieve stability in taxes and everything else.

The N53 is the road between Dublin and Castleblaney, while the N54 crosses the Border. If I drive from Dundalk to Sligo or Roscommon, as I recently did to attend the BMW assembly, I have to travel south to Kells before turning north again because the drive through Kingscourt and Cavan is a nightmare I would not contemplate in any circumstance. The infrastructure around Dundalk is adequate if one is travelling north or south, but one is in trouble if one is travelling west. Our colleagues from Warrenpoint had to contend with a train that was delayed and a bus that was full. They were in a sweat when they arrived here, which is why they are so quiet. While the infrastructure has improved significantly, Warrenpoint should only be a 50-minute drive from Dublin.

On the memorandum of understanding signed by the two councils, credit is due to the former Louth county manager, Mr. Conn Murray, who had the foresight to encourage all of the institutions which might be relevant to sign up to the memorandum, including the chambers of commerce, IDA Ireland and various businesses. We have become very conscious of including the North in our planning. Deputy Dara Calleary referred to Dundalk Institute of Technology, DKIT, which faces a serious problem in enrolling graduates from Northern Ireland because the CAO does not give sufficient recognition to A level students. A student with A1 grades is considered to have achieved a remarkable result, but it translates into 450 points for the CAO, which is not even sufficient to gain entry to an accountancy course in UCD. Something is radically wrong if that is the case. Three years ago DKIT indicated to the CAO that it planned to introduce its own streaming mechanism in recruiting students.

However, the CAO indicated that if it did so, the CAO would remove it from the application process. Ministers have been made aware of it. Deputy Tóibín's party leader has spoken about it. I have heard it being spoken about on numerous occasions; I have not seen anything done about it.

The MOU was created by them. It is primarily on co-operation between the two organisations in terms of emergency planning and in other areas, including environmental controls. It has encouraged further development. For example the LEO in Dundalk and the equivalent training authority in the North are working on a programme for arts graduates who cannot get jobs, to retrain them or enhance their knowledge by giving them some technical skills by using the DkIT and the Southern Education and Library Board. When I am talking about Newry I find it very difficult to think of the Southern Education and Library Board.