Ms Gina McIntyre:

That is a difficult question because without knowing the terms of Brexit, the negotiation and what is going to happen, it is difficult to plan for every potential scenario, be it a hard or soft Brexit. I absolutely take the Chairman's point that it should be done. In the context of our programmes that does happen. All the projects and the organisations of a similar activity within the sectors come together regularly and they apply for our funding. They see the opportunities for economies of scale and the efficiencies of services, especially in some of the health services. The universities involved in research and innovation see the benefits of working together. The institutions in the region see the benefits and all we can do is provide the funding. We take all of that on board in the consultation we do before the establishment of the programmes and for the content of the programmes, in line with the Commission's priorities.

The co-operation as proposed by the Chairman does occur currently. I totally agree with this approach if we are to go forward. We will in any event be engaging in evaluations in all the areas I mentioned and will be bringing together the type of people who would be involved in our projects, all the relevant institutions and those who have an interest, to look at what we can do in the future and to identify the problems. We will be undertaking that.