Ms Aingeal O?Donoghue:

I thank Ms Gildernew for remembering our meeting. I spent some very interesting years working in North-South co-operation from 2003 to 2008 and that is when Ms Gildernew and I met. There were some great achievements during that period.

I will make a preliminary point related to Covid, which Mr. Duffy touched on. Some of what we originally envisaged, including in terms of engagement and outreach and notably in terms of travelling to meet different groups, is severely restricted at the moment. Regarding some of the projects, such as the Narrow Water Bridge project, I would need to do a tour to see the locations and remind myself because, as I said, I was heavily involved until 2008 but have been involved in other issues since then. There is a challenge in this early phase because of Covid. We are trying to work through that and there are some pluses to virtual engagement in terms of the numbers of people one can have.

I will say a couple of words on the projects. One of the pitfalls is if one mentions one project and not another, it can be read one way or another. Everyone should take it as read that all the projects listed in the New Decade, New Approach, commitments from the Irish Government and all the projects listed in the programme for Government are part of our agenda, although it is absolutely correct to ask about different ones.

On the A5 road project, the current issues are not about funding but about planning permission, public inquiries and environmental issues, which are within the remit of the Northern Ireland Executive. There have been a series of challenges and public inquiries related to the planning for the A5 project. The state of play is that the latest public inquiry in the North has issued an interim report to the Minister, which I understand she is considering. Once we see the way forward to do the project and get past legal and planning issues, we will be ready to have further conversations on funding. We have allocated the money that has been mentioned, some £75 million. For the past number of years, the Department has not been able to spend that money on the A5 because of these obstacles. We have to overcome those first.

On the Narrow Water Bridge project, there was a good discussion between the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Minister for Infrastructure in the North, Nichola Mallon, at the North-South Ministerial Council. We have to look at what options we want to put on the table and reach agreement on what the plan is. There are many stakeholders and different views, including in the relevant region, but I assure the committee that the Taoiseach is committed to this project, which he has emphasised.

On the Ulster Canal, feasibility work is being carried out in the Clones area and there is a real commitment to the project. It has a great deal of support in the Executive. We are looking at delivering the phase around Clones and then planning for a further phase. The project will be done on a phased basis but it is viewed as iconic, as is the Narrow Water Bridge.

I will ask Mr. Duffy to address the issue of engagement and some of the projects. Dialogue is the formal part of that but we are engaged in an extensive listening and learning exercise, reaching out to a variety of organisations. Ms Gildernew's point that it cannot just be the people who put their hands up is well made. We are doing a lot of work making sure we have exhaustively explored who might wish to contribute or might be interested in contributing and might not have done so until now. It is not just about who is in the room, even if it is a virtual room, but about making the conversation relevant to them and their issues and interests.

Deputy Lawless noted that one area we are focused on is developing dialogue in the South in the regions and with different groups. I invite Mr. Duffy to respond now.