Ms Michelle Gildernew:

My sound is not great so I apologise for any difficulties. It is very interesting to hear Professor FitzGerald's thoughts. At a committee in Stormont in the region of 20 years ago, the economist John Simpson talked about how there were children in the vicinity of Stormont, only a few miles down the road, who at five, six, and seven years old were no longer suitable for an educational environment. Those words stuck in my head. I will never forget them. That is a stark statement to make. I agree that the ethos and value that is placed on education at home is certainly a major contributing factor.

Professor FitzGerald talked about the grammar schools. That love affair with grammar schools is waning significantly, particularly in more rural areas, although it is different in Belfast than it is everywhere else. We have excellent all-ability schools, like St. Catherine's College in Armagh or St. Ciaran's College in Ballygawley. We have brilliant all-ability schools in the North that are bringing children through, bringing the best out of them and helping them achieve their full potential. I would like to see more research and development. We are going to be left behind by the digital innovation that is happening around the world and we need to ensure we are fit to compete in that sphere.

Professor FitzGerald has broken the subvention down into different categories, such as defence and residual spending, and that residual category includes things like museums, galleries, libraries and things on which we might not necessarily have the same level of spending. Obviously, defence is a massive impact and we would not be spending the same amount on defence that the British Government currently does.

The British Government currently ring-fences 2% of GDP for defence and that is a large amount. However, there are also other decisions to consider. We are talking this week about the investment of £200 million in a new royal yacht. It is those kinds of expenses which make the subvention sound so ridiculously high. Obviously, the subvention is based on the status quo.

As for the savings which would accrue from doing away with some of the duplication on the island, I note we have two health systems and two education systems, for example. Much spending is duplicated on the island of Ireland now. There are some excellent examples, especially in health, where co-operation has been highly beneficial, not just financially but also in respect of the health outcomes for people. I am thinking of the cancer centre in Derry or the all-Ireland paediatric centre in Dublin. There are amazing outcomes from those centres.

The status quo, therefore, is throwing up a different set of figures. I would like to focus on a few of the more recent aspects. Some of the statistics being used by Professor FitzGerald are a few years old. I have been a constituency MP or an MLA for more than 20 years. In the past five years, certainly, and mention was made of the 2016 standard of living index, I have seen great difficulties arising from the increase in poverty in my constituency such as the reliance on food banks, for example. This is not just in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, but before that as well. We certainly have seen a diminution in the level of disposable income in my constituency. I would like to hear from Professor FitzGerald on some of those points. Deputy Conway-Walsh will come in thereafter.