Ms Oonagh Duggan:

I wish to respond to the final point about why our focus was on the environment and Brexit. I spoke to a friend of mine who lives in Monaghan who works in heritage. She is on the front line. She is involved in protecting habitats and other parts of our heritage in Monaghan. I asked her what she thought and she said that for her peace is based on the maintenance of cultural heritage and that peace happens through normal cultural activities and the re-emergence of place. She highlighted that the natural value of the landscape is now outside of the framework of the historic Troubles. In the past, the bogs were awful places where terrible things could happen and illicit activities occurred. That has now changed with people supporting projects that work to restore upland habitats. A fearful and degraded landscape, which could threaten tourism and development in the Border region, which has suffered already, is what we do not want to happen. The environmental acquis and the level playing field we currently have has allowed us to hang normal life onto that area and to give rise to the normalisation of relations. That was a profound chat with her about her experience in protecting habitats in Monaghan.

I will respond to some of the other points. Deregulation on the UK side is possible. What is coming out of the communication with politicians is that the UK will be very strong on the environment but we have yet to see what will emerge. There have been concerns on some of the draft legislation that has been published so far. Civic society in the UK working in the area of the environment will work very hard and we are looking very closely to make sure there is no reduction in protections in the future.