Mr. John Kelpie:

I will first respond to the last point Ms Martin made. The various models that exist along the Border are at different stages of maturity. We each learn from the other through each iteration. It is certainly something on which we are partnering, and we are trying to learn from one another on how to take forward best practice.

As the Chairman rightly pointed out, the A5 is probably the single biggest infrastructure project in respect of which we require mitigation not only for the future, but also the present. The journey time for us this morning, of just over 150 miles, took almost four hours. That was not contending with rush-hour traffic. It meant leaving Derry city for Dublin this morning at 9.05 a.m. and pulling in here at 1.20 p.m. That is simply not an attractive proposition in terms of foreign direct investment or supporting and growing our SME base.

The rail route, as members know, goes through Belfast. If connections work, the journey takes in the region of five hours. The bus service has been substantially reduced in recent days. The journey takes, at best, three and three quarter hours to four hours, with a half hour stop in Monaghan. For a long number of years, we had twice-daily connections from City of Derry Airport to Dublin Airport. This was extremely efficient for business and helped to mitigate some of the land-based infrastructure link issues. However, as members probably know, that service no longer exists and it remains paramount to us to try to re-establish that twice-daily air link, at least until the road link is put in place. The Chairman is correct that this remains the single biggest infrastructural project we believe to be required to finally unlock the potential of the north west and bring it closer to the markets of Dublin. Dublin Airport is increasingly becoming a key economic link to the rest of the world, with close to 200 flights per week to North America. The vast majority of the foreign direct investors in the north west are US based. They are finding it increasingly hard to do business there because of the infrastructural deficit. It remains one of the key priorities for us.