Dr. Anthony Soares:

In terms of Deputy Carey's questions on the peace process, the challenges that Brexit presents and what work have we done in terms of speaking with other organisations, I will preface my comments by saying we have focused particularly on the area of cross-Border co-operation. That means at the Border and also North-South co-operation more widely. We have spoken to other organisations in terms of how do we see things moving forward, what kind of proposals can we come up with in terms of how do we support that type of co-operation at the Border but also more widely in terms of North-South co-operation.

We cannot forget that the Good Friday Agreement was about North-South and cross-Border co-operation but also east-west co-operation. We are also looking at how to maintain relationships or build on them North and South on this island but also between this island and Great Britain at civic society level and various other levels.

We have engaged with organisations like Co-operation Ireland and others, including some local councils at the Border, to come up with various visions on how we can take things forward. It also comes back to the last question although I shall not pre-empt it because I shall leave it to Mr. Sheridan to answer the question on the UK Government replacing funding that is lost.

We are coming up with proposals because if Brexit is to be deemed a success then it has to be a success, not an aggregate success as in for one part of the United Kingdom or one sector of society. It has to be a success for every single part of the United Kingdom including Northern Ireland. If Brexit is to be a success it has to be a success for Northern Ireland as well. It has to be a positive. I cannot see even the status quoas being a success. It has to be a plus for every single part of the UK, for every sector of society in the UK and a plus for our relationships North and South, and east and west. In order for that to happen we must come up with proposals and pass them to the UK Government that says Brexit means Brexit. It also means we are going to get back the funds that the UK sends to Brussels and, therefore, that is going to be re-invested. We say, "Here are the proposals, if it is a success then you have to fund these various options. If you are not going to fund those options then you have to explain why not and that means Brexit is not a success." We believe Brexit has to be a success for every part, including cross-Border co-operation and wider North-South co-operation.

Senator Ó Donnghaile asked about a special status for Northern Ireland. I must admit the Centre for Cross Border Studies does not find the term enormously helpful, especially at this stage. We prefer to look at exploring flexible arrangements and relationships. The term "special status", at this stage, may not be acceptable to people or various parties within Northern Ireland but definitely not to parties in the UK. I do not think the UK Government is in favour of granting special status to any part of the UK. There are member states in the European Union that would not welcome the term "special status" being granted to a member state. We would rather use different language.