Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I might pose some questions. Peripheries do not tend to do well economically. Peripheries are usually damaging. What we have here, however, is a man-made periphery to a certain extent. It was created and it should not be there. People in the South tend not to understand that the highest levels of deprivation, unemployment and depopulation are to be found along the Border. In the recent census figures, for example, Donegal was one of the few counties in the State that actually experienced a population decrease since 2011. It is very frustrating that, in the context of the Good Friday Agreement, 1 million Irish and, therefore, EU, citizens will potentially be left isolated outside the EU against their will. Consent has been one of the bedrocks of political developments in the North in recent years. If we do not have a customs union with Britain, if Britain does not have access to the Single Market and if there are changes in regulation, there will have to be checks of materials and people crossing the Border. There have been discussions and a number of areas have been selected for Border posts. Do the witnesses have that information? No. That is a good thing. We can mitigate against many of the difficulties that exist. One of the ways in which we can mitigate is through better planning and integration. There is currently a large project in the South called the national planning framework. What level of input and engagement have the local authorities had with that? We might go to the representatives from Derry City and Strabane District Council first.