Mr. Ray Dolan:

Both Departments of Health and then the North-South Ministerial Council. Unfortunately, with no Executive in the North, the North-South Ministerial Council is not sitting, there is no Minister for Health in the North and there is no approval mechanism. That is not a problem. That is just a fact of life. It has been on and off like that for the past 18 years. One just works around that. What we are saying is that the time will come, sooner rather than later, depending on what we see as the type of Brexit it is, when we may have to sit down with both Governments and say what is needed to reshape the organisation. We have been in existence for 19 years and there has been change. Technologies have changed. Specialties have changed. The skills of a food scientist recruited in 2000 or 2001 have completely changed by 2018. It would be a welcome opportunity in that regard.

On a Northern Irish office, we have struggled with this from day one. I would say it is difficult to put a business case together. It is difficult to get acceptance. In the face of an attitude suggesting "if it is not broken, why fix it?" and that we are working quite well in the North while based in the South, I would say there is no appetite for it. That is not anyone's fault. Depending on the colour of Brexit, as it were, we may have to revisit that and a stronger business case may have to be made for it.