Ms Tanya Ward:

It is an area where I wonder if we could argue the special case for Northern Ireland and if it could be part of that special case. The EU moneys have been very important to empowering and enabling organisations working North and South to continue working together to bring down the barriers and to deal with the fear and prejudice. It will be incredibly important, if we have a British-Irish agreement, that this is part of it. We did not have time today to go into the implications for children and young people living in the Border counties. There are some 50,000 children living in the Border counties and their lives play out over the Border. What will Brexit mean for them and the organisations, civil society groups and youth organisations that work together to support them?

There is some possibility and scope to look at funding arrangements. The Good Friday Agreement and the special case of Northern Ireland are probably our best cards in that regard. It has already caused some concern. When we were involved in some EU grants with Northern Ireland partners, there was concern after the Brexit referendum result and questions over what it would mean, for example, if we get the funding, would the funding agreement go ahead? There is also concern in the sector that some of the groups may move south to avail of EU funding and the impact this may have on the community and voluntary sector and on the public. It is not a concern I share, but this is some of the dialogue and discussion that is ongoing in our sector currently and it is something that we need to explore. It is of particular concern to the all-island organisations such as Scouting Ireland, the members of which work together all the time for children and young people. I believe it will impact on those organisations.