Mr. Eoghan Duffy:

In respect of Senator Currie's point about communications, bringing in under-represented voices and the full diversity of views and opinion on the island is very important. Part of that will involve being open. People will want to decide again how they do that but,from the contacts we have already had, there is a lot of readiness and activity in academia, community groups and civil society groups that are ready and will continue to contribute to a broader dialogue on what a shared island means in the different areas. That will happen and we will certainly do everything we can to encourage.

In terms of specifics, we envisage an online presence, particularly to provide information and content from the dialogue series more broadly and also in the context of the research work. When different research projects are concluded, we will work with the research partners to convene events, discussions and press and other media work in that regard in order to publicise the conclusions of the research and support broader engagement with those themes. Those are some of the key points we would see in the context of communications. As the different projects in terms of delivery on a shared island agenda are developed and delivered, there will be communication aspects around all of that. I hope this provides a sense of the communications aspect.

Regarding research, we are finalising partnership co-operation with the ESRI to start producing research on some of the themes that were mentioned, particularly in respect of the all-island economy, health on the island and education. The Department has also asked NESC to produce a full report on a shared island that will be compiled next. The secretariat of NESC has already started work on shared island aspects of good jobs, cross-Border working, climate and environment so some early pieces of research will come through in the early part of next year.