Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will finish on how the impacts of Brexit could be offset by new programmes. Does the Commissioner have ideas in that regard? I can provide a Sinn Féin document that contains a number of proposals that we believe would be helpful. Among them is that North-South co-operation would be treated as a qualifying combination for inter-regional programmes. Is that something Mr. Oettinger believes is possible?

We have also argued for the establishment of a task force, based on the Barroso task force established to support the Good Friday Agreement, with an all-Ireland mandate to work with all the different national actors to support the maximum level of funding. It was unique to Ireland and recognition from Europe of the importance of the Good Friday Agreement. A Brexit initiative would be important there. There are a number of other matters and the third I will mention is the securing of a PEACE programme beyond the 2020 horizon. With those or any other element suggested by the witness, where does he see the multi-annual financial framework, MFF, as a support? The only question is the scale of that impact of Brexit at this point.