Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for his detailed presentation at the outset of the meeting and for his response to the questions raised by members. I was glad to hear the Tánaiste say that under no circumstances could we countenance the reintroduction or re-emergence of Border infrastructure. I live in a community that has been transformed through the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. I said at this committee before that it was only when the Brexit referendum happened that we took stock of the progress that has been made on this island and under no circumstances can we go back. I used the phrase previously that the referendum decision knocked the stuffing out of Border communities because those of us who grew up in parishes that were divided along the Border and who have had the privilege of representing two counties with a long land border with Northern Ireland have seen the benefits of the Good Friday Agreement and as the Tánaiste inferred earlier, there has been a huge growth in North-South trade and the development of the all-Ireland economy through the mechanisms that were put in place and through the political environment that we have had as a result of the Good Friday Agreement.

As the Tánaiste knows well, the food industry and many other sectors of our economy have grown on an all-Ireland basis and those enterprises and commerce grew without people waving flags or talking about political ideology. The political framework and understanding was there on how to go about creating business and working together. We have businesses that were established here by people who are from a different political tradition than I come from and similarly, people from the South are establishing businesses in Northern Ireland as well and that has been really beneficial. It is only since June 2016 that we have realised the progress that has been made. It is thankfully a transformed society, even though we fully realise that we have progress to make in other respects.

I recently attended the launch of a publication by Donnacha Ó Beacháin of Dublin City University, DCU, entitled From Partition to Brexit. It was very heartening to listen to the President of DCU, Professor MacCraith, speak at that launch about the students in DCU. The overwhelming majority of those students and the students at every third level college in the country thankfully did not live through the Troubles. They are a new generation that did not experience that troubled era on our island and we surely want to make sure that every protection is made so that we do not go back in any respect, be it political, economic or social.

I know the Government is putting in a huge effort, supported by all political parties here, in bringing representatives and the Tánaiste's counterparts in other governments to the Border area, as we did with parliamentary groups. It gave a good understanding to people in other member states of the European Union that we do not have a border, that the communities are living side by side and that under no circumstances could we countenance a return to the era where we had impediments to the free movement of people, goods and services.

Together with Deputy Crowe and the Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, I was in Belfast and Derry recently to meet different groups about the need for investment of which we all are aware. The Tánaiste referred to the 2040 national plan and he mentioned the development plans for the north west and for the east coast. We all welcome those but there is a central Border area that needs particular attention and it does not get the attention in Project Ireland 2040 that I would like to see it receive. It is an area to which I would like to see some attention given, although I am realistic enough to know there are always competing demands.

The British have spoken about a prosperity fund post 2020 for Northern Ireland, which is a bit of a misnomer if ever there was one. Alongside the peace programme and the INTERREG programme, perhaps we should have developed a particular fund to be administered through the Irish Central Border Area Network, ICBAN, which covers Cavan, Fermanagh, Monaghan and Tyrone and similarly in Derry and Donegal in the north west, as well as in the east Border region. We should explore the possibility post 2020 of the British, the European Union and our Government contributing to a specific fund. I would like it to be given some consideration in that respect because our area, regardless of what Brexit there is, will unfortunately be adversely affected. Those are just some ideas for consideration.