Mrs. Sharon McMahon:

The questions from the Senator and the Deputy overlap so I will generalise in my answer on Brexit. The Chairman asked what issues the committee could raise on our behalf. We have been operating since 1952 so for us cross-Border working is a day to day matter. Sometimes when people ask us how Brexit will affect us we have to sit down and question ourselves seriously because we have taken this for granted. On the map of our jurisdictional area we do not actually see the border between North and South. We work to our jurisdictional area which goes into Donegal, and the map shows half of Northern Ireland, just down to the tip of Lough Erne. We stop just short of Lough Erne. We go up to the Ponderosa which is on the Glenshane mountain and into Malin Head in Donegal. We have been doing that since 1952, funded 50:50 by both Governments.

We have established relationships and partnerships that we need for survival. Those relationships are strong because we have been doing this for many years. We work with our sponsors and fellow academics in Ireland, and with Inland Fisheries Ireland, on scientific information. We work with the Marine Institute and have established a relationship with Cork University. We have academic relationships with Glasgow and Queen's universities. Those will continue post Brexit without a doubt. We have staff in both jurisdictions, which we pay. We operate two tax regimes. We operate under employment legislation in both jurisdictions. This is bread and butter for us. This is what we do, day in and day out. We do not see Brexit affecting that.

Our fisheries management regimes have been running since 1952 and we now have a considerable knowledge base within the agency, and expertise, which we see as a template for the future, maybe to even expand our jurisdictional remit to other Border areas where it may be difficult to deliver fisheries management because of the impact of Brexit but we continue to work on our relationships and we are only as strong as our relationships North and South with our sponsor Departments. Our board is made up of six Northern appointees and six Southern ones. They all work very well for the good of protecting a valuable natural resource.

In regard to what the committee can do for us we would ask it to consider the management agreement. That is a very sensitive subject in the jurisdictional issue but that would further strengthen our position post Brexit. The oyster farmers in Lough Foyle want us to work with them to regulate that activity. It would be worthwhile if the committee could take that forward for us. We have concerns about environmental regulations. We are not that naïve. We are not sure how they will diverge in the future. Through our scientists and scientific department we have forged strong relationships with other likeminded organisations in Ireland and the UK. We intend to keep those relationships and press forward with best practice in that regard.

In respect of funding we have been very successful. We have initiated and implemented tourism projects. We secured the funding for substantial works in Malin Head and on Benone beach in County Derry. We have done many tourism projects and are working with Louth County Council on the Carlingford greenway. We are involved in many funding streams. We have Heritage Lottery funding, have been successful with Co-operation Ireland, and the International Fund for Ireland has sponsored many of our activities. We have been approached by the Prince's Trust, which, believe it or not, wants to work with us in a cross-Border capacity. We see ourselves as a template for many things post Brexit in respect of the environment, funding and tourism, especially marine tourism activities that are on the rise in Lough Foyle, such as canoeing and some of the activities on the rise in Waterways Ireland too, which Ms Livingstone mentioned.