Dr. Anthony Soares:

In answer to the first question, we ask members of this committee to look at the charter carefully, see if they agree with it and can support it, and enter into conversation with other Members of these Houses and spread the message. This is what we are looking for ultimately. Whatever happens in terms of Brexit, irrespective of the kind of Brexit we have or whether we even have Brexit at all, it is vital the structures and funds are there to support co-operation at community level on a North-South basis and all-island basis, but also on an east-west basis because we do not want to end up seeing a situation where the structures and funds are not there. Those funds must come from all administrations across these islands and not only the Irish Government.

If one takes away EU funding and considers the funds that support cross-Border co-operation outside of EU funds, one of the funds that immediately comes to mind is the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade reconciliation fund. If that is taken out of the equation, one is left with very few. I refer to charitable organisations. For example, the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust funds what we do. The Northern Ireland Community Relations Council supports what we are doing and we welcome that. Outside of that, there is no direct equivalent on the UK Government side. Neither has not been one equivalent to the reconciliation fund from the Northern Ireland Government side. That is a glaring deficit that has to be addressed.

I will quickly point out what is coming from the UK Government. We have been following closely the development of the UK shared prosperity fund, which is the government's proposal to replace EU Structural Funds. In the little detail there is - it is still very little - they seem to have forgotten that Structural Funds support cross-Border co-operation. Even though the Border on the island of Ireland is mentioned every two seconds and the backstop every other second the Brexit debate, when they are sitting formulating a new policy they forget, once again, that there is a Border between Northern Ireland and the Republic and between the island of Ireland and Great Britain and that the UK shared prosperity fund should be able to support cross-Border co-operation. We request that members from this committee enter into dialogue with other politicians here, but also use their contacts with politicians in Westminster, Holyrood and Cardiff Bay to make sure that everybody is aware of this, and of that need going forward.