Ms Aingeal O?Donoghue:

My colleague and I welcome the opportunity to brief the committee. I have responsibility at assistant secretary level in the Department of the Taoiseach for the shared island unit and, indeed, for the broader British-Irish and Northern Ireland affairs division. I am joined by Mr. Eoghan Duffy, principal officer in the unit. I will make our opening statement but both Mr. Duffy and I will be available to answer any questions members may have.

As the committee is aware, the programme for Government sets out the Government’s commitment to working with all communities and traditions on the island to build consensus around a shared future underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement. In a major address at Dublin Castle on 22 October, the Taoiseach set out the Government’s vision and priorities for a shared island. More than 800 invited guests from Ireland, North and South, as well as from Britain, joined the online event. I know that several members of the committee were able to attend the event virtually. As the Taoiseach outlined in that address, the Government’s approach to a shared island involves working in partnership with the Executive, through the North-South Ministerial Council, and with the British Government to address the strategic challenges faced on the island, further developing the all-island economy, an enhanced connectivity and deepening co-operation in areas such as health and education and investing in the north-west and border regions. It also involves fostering constructive and inclusive dialogue, as well as developing a comprehensive programme of research to support the building of consensus around a shared future. The Taoiseach outlined that the shared island agenda is a whole-of-government priority.

The shared island unit of the Department of the Taoiseach does a significant amount of work co-ordinating and driving this work and agenda. The work of the unit and the whole shared island agenda are underpinned by the principles of the Good Friday Agreement. We operate in close co-operation with the ongoing and extensive Northern Ireland-related work across the Government, including with the Department of Foreign Affairs, as well as through the North-South Ministerial Council, the British-Irish Council and the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference. We are still in the early days. The unit started its work at the beginning of September, when Mr. Duffy and I came on board. We now have two additional staff members and plans are well advanced for a further two or three posts.

Operationally, the current focus of the unit’s work is on three areas: commissioning research, fostering dialogue and building a shared island agenda, including through delivery of the commitments in the programme for Government. I will briefly set out our work under each of these three areas. Building a shared island agenda involves the promotion of all-island approaches to the strategic challenges facing Ireland, North and South. Delivering on the commitments in the programme for Government is a key focus. Importantly, many of the programme for Government commitments are reflected in the Irish Government commitments under the New Decade, New Approach agreement.

The committee will be aware that in budget 2021, the Government announced the shared island fund, with €500 million to be made available over the period to 2025 and ring-fenced for shared island projects. As the Taoiseach set out in the Dáil, the shared island fund provides significant new multi-annual capital funding for investment in collaborative North-South projects. The funding will support the delivery of key cross-border infrastructure initiatives as set out in the programme for Government. We hope it will also support new Government investment in all-island initiatives in areas such as research, health, education and the environment, as well as addressing the particular challenges of the north-west and border communities. In all these areas, there are already several commitments in the programme for Government. The Taoiseach has emphasised the importance of moving ahead with cross-border investment commitments, working closely with the Northern Ireland Executive to ensure delivery. This was discussed at the North-South Ministerial Council plenary meeting in Dublin on 31 July. An update on progress will be provided to the next plenary meeting of the council, to be held in December.

On research, given the scale and potential impact of the work on the shared island initiative across all sectors and communities, it is essential to support a wide-ranging programme of research to provide high-quality and evidence-based policy analysis. This in turn will support consideration both in the Government and in broader public discourse on building a shared island and a consensus around a shared future. The shared island unit is finalising a research partnership with the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI. There will also be a North-South and east-west collaborative element to this research work. The National Economic and Social Council, NESC, has been asked to prepare a comprehensive report on shared island issues in 2021. This will provide valuable input from economic, social and environmental partners. There will be scope for collaboration with academia and other experts on the island or from Britain, as well as potentially drawing on wider international expertise. In developing all of this, we are and will be working closely with other Departments in terms of their policy and research priorities.

On dialogue and outreach, as I am sure members are aware, the Taoiseach launched the shared island dialogue series at Dublin Castle on 22 October to foster constructive and inclusive civic dialogue on all aspects of a shared future on the island. The dialogue series will start later this month. In a way, there are two elements to it. One will be a focus on key sectoral issues, including environment, economy, health and education. There will also be engagement on an inclusive basis on overarching concerns for the Good Friday Agreement, including around issues such as identity rights and the equality agenda. The dialogue series is complementary to the range of discussions and engagement that are already happening in community and civic settings on peace process issues. The dialogue series is intended to provide a focus for people to engage on an inclusive basis on a shared future on the island. It can also be the starting point for broader and deeper discussions in civil society. We will actively seek as broad a range of perspective and experience as possible in order to ensure the inclusion of voices that traditionally have been under-represented in the peace process, including those of women, young people, and immigrant communities. Indeed, the first shared island dialogue, which the Taoiseach has already announced, will be around the topic of new generation, new voices.

That concludes my opening remarks on the shared island unit. I wish to express my appreciation to the committee for this opportunity to present to it and, very importantly from our point of view, to hear the views of members on the initiative and, indeed, the role that they, as Oireachtas Members and elected members can play. I thank the committee. Mr. Duffy and I will be happy to answer the questions of members.