Professor John FitzGerald:

On governance, it would be interesting for the committee to have a session on what the Republic could learn from Northern Ireland because there are things it could learn. In 2005, I met Mr. Michael Brennan, the then head of the economic service of Northern Ireland's civil service. He had 120 economists. Our Department of Finance was getting rid of its economists. I asked him whether he could lend us a few. When I spoke to our Department of Finance, though, it told me that it did not need economists. Look at what happened in the Republic. If we had had a few Northern Ireland economists, matters might have been different in the Department. The committee could also consider the reform of the PSNI in respect of the Garda and the Northern Ireland Housing Executive in terms of managing social housing. I will leave those matters for another day.

In terms of governance, there is a natural experiment in the UK involving Scotland and Northern Ireland. Scotland has run with the ball whereas Northern Ireland has fought over the ball, the consequences of which we can see. Ms Hanna mentioned how the cheque would keep on coming. I was on the Northern Ireland Authority for Energy Regulation 15 years ago. A scheme came up that I called a waste of taxpayers' money, but I was told that it was the UK taxpayer and that the money was coming to Northern Ireland, and I was asked how I could say "No". It was still daft. On the other hand, I once went to the UK Treasury representing Northern Ireland and came away incensed. We had a scheme that would have saved money for Northern Ireland's consumers and UK taxpayers, but the Treasury told us that nothing good came out of Northern Ireland. It was a frustrating experience. My Northern Ireland colleagues were so used to it that they just laughed, but I was incandescent with rage after the experience. There are problems, but Scotland has run with the ball. Even if it is UK taxpayers' money, making good use of it makes sense. As we saw with the renewable heat incentive, RHI, scheme, what is happening is corrosive. Northern Ireland has a budget and the freedom to reallocate it. Instead of saying "We want more", Northern Ireland should take responsibility for the budget. Doing that is difficult, but Scotland has done it. A change could make a difference.

The Republic has things to learn from Northern Ireland as well.