Mr. Pat Treanor:

I agree fully with Mr. Campbell’s comments about concerns surrounding Brexit and the alarming prospect it raises for our community. I live in and represent a community which is about a mile from the Border. Until recently, people did not want to even engage with the issue of Brexit because it was such a hurtful experience remembering what happened in the past. We ask this committee to ensure that all of the elements in the Good Friday Agreement are used to try to defend our rural Border communities, including the reference to a Border poll. All possible solutions to the Brexit issue as it affects the Border should be investigated.

This issue has been the subject of much media attention. Members of our local community have appeared on many programmes and taken part in many interviews. They have explained the statistics and that in the recent past local businesses have withdrawn or withheld further investment and development because of uncertainty. Assistance, therefore, is needed in that area. While we welcome the focus on investment and development in the eastern and north west parts of the Border region, we feel that we are, in many ways, overlooked in ways similar to rural Ireland. Communities on both sides of the Border in the central region have suffered neglect over many years. We need some focus on our area as well.

Ms Gildernew's question on the health issue is vital. ICBAN, with the help of bodies such as the Centre for Cross Border Studies based in Armagh, has undertaken reports on the positioning of emergency hospitals, etc. We have been developing responses to emergencies, including enabling the ambulance services to travel across the Border. The fire brigades have also advanced greatly in co-ordinating and dealing with emergencies such as fires and road traffic collisions in a cross-Border context in our region. We are approaching the point where people are ignoring the Border and just delivering the services which all of the people of the region deserve.

The energy interconnector is a similar issue. Mr. Campbell mentioned in his presentation the importance of the all-Ireland energy strategy. Mr. Molloy also referred to the 400 kV interconnector being developed between County Meath and County Tyrone. It goes through the eastern part of County Monaghan, and, as the committee will probably be aware, EirGrid and SONI have turned that into a very controversial project. There is major opposition locally to it being constructed as an overhead project with approximately 300 pylons positioned along the path of the interconnector. I have been at public meetings with landowners. Those meetings sometimes include 300 to 400 people very determined that they will not allow the construction of that project over land. It is fully accepted that the interconnector is needed and that the all-Ireland energy strategy is a good one, which protects and delivers for us all. I appeal to the committee to bring to bear any authority or influence it may have to try to force EirGrid to consult and listen to the local communities. Constructing the energy interconnector underground is possible. We have been to Europe and to Brussels, and investigated a similar project between Belgium and Germany. We heard from Elia, the company responsible for that project, that there is a possibility of putting such an endeavour underground. What we been learned from that project is that public confidence is the first requirement of successful infrastructure construction anywhere in Ireland and particularly in the Border region. Public confidence is vital.