Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the delegations and welcome them. I hope they will not mind if I mention Councillor Aidan Campbell, who is from the same constituency as me. I am delighted to have all the witnesses here this morning. It is a milestone day for us nationally as a European country. The witnesses could not be here on a more appropriate day to keep the Border region firmly on the agenda.

As somebody who is from Cavan-Monaghan, every day I see the positive influence from PEACE and INTERREG funding, cross-Border co-operation, and the difference that has made to towns such as Castleblayney, Clones, Belturbet and Ballyconnell which were war-torn, everybody wanted to leave and where people were afraid to live. Thankfully, the next generation of young people will not remember that.

I am concerned following the witnesses' presentations that there is a risk of all that unravelling. They have all mentioned the non-functioning of the Assembly in Stormont. Brexit looms large. Our Government is focused on Brexit, as it has to be. That leaves the Border region in a vacuum. Where does that leave the witnesses' organisations? Who is flying their flag? They are right to be here to fly the flag for a focused, co-ordinated task force that encompasses everything they are doing, with a significant focus on the Border region, on both sides of the Border, in Cavan, Monaghan, Meath, Sligo, Tyrone, Armagh and Fermanagh. There needs to be fast action because there is a risk in what has been happening since 2016 of all that good work unravelling. We do not want to go back to times where towns and villages were almost ghost towns, which they were 20 years ago. I am glad to have the witnesses here this morning to make the case that there is a need for urgency from the Government. It has to come from here. The Government has a job to do in flying the flag for the country in Europe but there has to be a focus on this.

The A5 and M3 motorway currently stop at Meath. We need to look at such infrastructure. Witnesses from Iarnród Éireann attended a meeting of this committee where we talked about the fact that we have no rail line. There seems to be a focus on the Dublin-Galway line and south of that. We are the forgotten half of the country. We have to bring back the focus to that area and to the need for the infrastructure about which the witnesses have talked here this morning, including the roads, rail and broadband. As Ms Arthurs said, that will ensure the connectivity is present and that the relationship stays strong. Following on from what my colleague has suggested, while we have a lot of information from the witnesses' presentations, what tangible measures would the witnesses like to see us, as a committee, bring forward that will benefit all of what they are doing and make sure they are on top of the agenda nationally for the Border region?