Dr. Alan Barrett:

I have some supplementary remarks. Senator O'Reilly raised an extremely interesting question regarding areas of future collaboration and co-operation between Ireland and the UK. Again, Dr. Lawless was pointing out that in areas such as trade, with a dominance of EU competencies, there are limits to the bilateral process.

This raises an interesting political issue and a broader economic issue. It is well recognised - all committee members are aware of it and I am sure issues like this will come up in the final report - that one of the great problems Brexit will create is that it will take away the natural forum in which Irish and British Ministers meet one another. Perhaps just as important if not more important was the extent to which Irish officials would meet their British counterparts in a Brussels setting. This provided a natural setting where people got together to talk about issues on the fringes of meetings. I noticed this morning that the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly was meeting. It is important that such groups are maintained and enhanced to make sure that discussions continue to take place. That is a little bit of international relations.

When it comes to policy areas, there are interesting opportunities for Ireland. Dr. Lawless touched on the common travel area. The common travel area is still unique to Ireland and Britain. To give an example, one thing we worried about at the outset of all the Brexit talk was that it was not absolutely guaranteed that the common travel area would remain in place. For many Irish people, being able to move for purposes of education and professional development was a central part of how we ran our lives. It was not just moving for job purposes but also for education and professional enhancement. Those things are all still possible. Education, for example, is one of those areas where one could have enhanced co-operation between Ireland and the UK. In that context, the Government's decision to maintain Erasmus for Northern Ireland students is a really positive example.

Another issue in the broad area of education, but from the research perspective, is the United Kingdom taking itself out of many EU funding arrangements. This, in a sense, created an opportunity for Ireland to be a bridge to those fine universities in the United Kingdom. For a committee like this, and given that it will be writing a report, it is important to keep an eye on the areas where there can be enhanced co-operation, which is good as an end in itself and also important in maintaining that Irish-British ongoing dialogue and positive interaction.