Mr. Aidan Campbell:

Senator Coffey mentioned the LEADER programme and networking. That is built into LEADER and the rural development programme across Europe and that is an important lesson that the UK Government needs to take on but it may need prompting from the Irish Government. Once we get past high politics and whenever a deal emerges, whatever the UK replaces rural development funding with, there must be an external element. We cannot just do it within our own jurisdiction. We need to look outwards. There are many lessons we can learn from each other across the Border and from what countries across Europe are doing in terms of rural development.

LEADER invested in the importance of networking and placed it as being very important. Our organisation is trying to do that when it talks to the UK Government about the UK shared prosperity fund. There needs to be an external element, it needs to look outwards and that costs money, is valuable and worth investing in. That is one of the key lessons and learnings from that European rural development programme.

The only other point I wanted to pick up on was the idea of peace building and reconciliation. I agree with Deputy Martin Kenny that much work has been done in local areas and communities. That is the day job of a colleague of mine, Ms Charmain Jones, who concentrates on local reconciliation and communities and having those difficult conversations. Significant progress has been made at community level in Northern Ireland. Our concern, as an organisation, is that Brexit has become an issue that divides people along community lines in Northern Ireland despite the vote in the most recent European election. Our concern is that Brexit has the potential to be divisive again, especially in rural communities, depending on one's view of the constitutional issue. We are grappling with that as an organisation. The Rural Community Network has a diverse membership, some of whom are leavers and some remainers. We are finding it challenging to plot our way through this stuff.

My view is that rural development and these challenges will be there regardless of what deal the UK comes to with the EU. The issues will remain and we will continue to work on them.