Erin McGreehan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the witnesses. As a student of Professor FitzGerald for many years, it is great to see him at this committee. For me, as an Irish republican, this is not about the costs of reunification. This topic is like deciding when is the right time to have children in that we will say it is never the right time. In this case, we must work towards that goal and create the best possible situation. Do we need a dedicated unit in every Department to work on convergence and how best to operate on an all-Ireland basis to create synergies? If or when we have reunification, or whatever our constitutional status may be, we would then be working with greater focus on an all-Ireland basis.

The theme of today's conversation is education. For me education has been my freedom to my future, and access to education has been essential for me, to create opportunities through education, research and innovation. We recently launched the economic corridor between Dublin and Belfast which presents a real opportunity. As Deputy Brendan Smith said, should we create a cross-Border institution with, for example, DKIT and Queens University coming together? It could create a body that would spread our education across the Border and stop the stop-at-the-Border mentality where someone coming from the North might go to England or Scotland, or someone from the Republic goes to Dublin, Galway, Cork or wherever.

Should we create a real university that is North-South, taking in Newry and Dundalk, thereby creating synergies? There is nothing better for integration than education because education is the key to so much. Do we have that dedicated body within a proper structured shared unit in each Department to create those synergies that will create better economies of scale? Whether that university in the middle of that economic zone between Dublin and Belfast or elsewhere how will that, in Professor FitzGerald's opinion, be the tide that raises all boats?