Ms Aingeal O?Donoghue:

The Senator raised some big issues at the end of his contribution that probably merit longer conversations. I loved Senator Hoey's expression about creating an underpinning of hope. The positive response more generally and engagement from all members on the shared island initiative is very heartening for us. I take note of her point about the student movement. The point about the post-Good Friday Agreement generation was in the Taoiseach's speech and is at the heart of our first dialogue. We have not talked about education as much as we should have. It is a key priority for us. To reassure the committee, we are working with both the Department of Education and the new Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and the Minister, Deputy Harris, is very engaged on this issue. Part of this goes back to the north west, the university and higher education provision more generally in the region. To respond to one of the earlier points made, we have met with the two CEOs of the Donegal and Derry and Strabane local authorities and will continue an engagement through the north west as well.

As to what engagement the Taoiseach had before his speech, he had spoken in the margins of the North-South Ministerial Council, for example, to both the First Minister and the deputy First Minister about his plans and his thinking around the shared island initiative. We have engaged with a variety of people. This is a two-way street. We look forward and hope we can create a space where everyone will feel comfortable engaging with us. We have had quite bit of engagement with civic unionism and, although I do not want to put words in people's mouths, a level of response that we have found heartening.

To respond to Senator Craughwell's point that capital projects do not build communities, again, this is a multi-stranded approach. We have talked a lot about the funding. The provision of a ring-fenced shared island fund is one of the biggest new elements of the shared island initiative, but that is just one strand. The dialogues are about creating and building a community and a sense of community on the island. The ongoing work in a range of other Departments, including from the reconciliation fund, etc., is all part of that. It is important to understand that this is a multi-stranded approach and that doing one thing, namely capital funding, does not mean that nothing else is being done. This is about fostering inclusive dialogue, which is at the heart of the initiative. As to what is new, the ring-fenced funding is very new. It is about re-energising the agenda on the island in terms of all-island co-operation and a very deliberate, careful approach to developing and fostering inclusive dialogue.

I am conscious of the time. We might not have answered everybody's questions but we have covered most of them, I hope. We will certainly go through our notes and come back to the committee on any questions we have not covered. We are happy to continue the engagement into the future.