Professor Edgar Morgenroth:

I thank the Deputy. As he will know, I agree with a lot of what he said. Education, as we have talked about, is very important and I think we have missed a lot of tricks.

In a report that we did for InterTradeIreland some years ago, there was a proposal to have an all-Ireland internship for students. In my university, DCU, most of our students do a year's internship in business but, typically, they do not go north of the Border. Likewise, students in Northern Ireland third level institutions do not generally cross the Border either. That is something we can do to gain a further understanding of the issues North and South and bring communities closer and also to have an educational impact.

On the Border area and Brexit, as the Deputy will know, the real issue with Brexit arises out of the reliance on agrifood production. In County Monaghan, one in five jobs is in agrifood. In County Cavan, the number is a little smaller but still fairly substantial. That is where the greatest barriers are likely to be in terms of Brexit. What is needed is some diversification to different sectors, which is an area we have failed in more generally. This over-reliance on one sector means one will be much more subject to shocks to that particular sector. Brexit is a particular one but one can think of other kinds of shocks that could hit that sector.

We need a diverse industrial structure in the Border area, North and South. Across the Border in the Northern counties, there is a similar reliance and they face very similar issues. That will probably require some educational interventions to develop the right skill sets to enable diversification. If we look at what is happening both north and south of the Border, in this part of the world people in Cavan-Monaghan who go to university do not return to those counties but go elsewhere. We face that a lot.

Some people have said that working from home, as part of Covid, will help and keep some people in the regions. I am not so sure but it might do so in some cases. We need to think a little more about what drives industrial development and where high-value added sectors end up locating. We can do a lot in that respect in the Border area. That will have spillover effects. If something happens in Monaghan, it will have a spillover effect into neighbouring counties, including north of the Border. That is something we should definitely tackle.