Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair for accommodating me. I was listening to the debate but I was not in a position to log on officially in Leinster House until now. This has been a very good debate and I welcome the witnesses. I listened with intent about Letterkenny, which is my neck of the woods, and the reference to collaboration with Derry. The heads of two educational institutions came before the committee recently. Mr. Paul Hannigan and Mr. Malachy O Néill both gave presentations on how they are collaborating, which they do in a number of ways. It is about how they build on this. I wanted to point out this collaboration, although perhaps it is not as much as we would like to see. Both institutions in this case are very open to collaborating.

The presentations were very good. We have heard of the polls and the ongoing drip from the poll by Kantar and the Irish independent, with all the talk about people wanting a united Ireland but not being able to afford it and that people are not prepared to pay for it. I am really afraid that before the debate gets going the myth will be put out there that it is completely unaffordable and that we cannot afford Northern Ireland. It is off-putting for many people. I would envisage any arrangement North and South having a similar lead-up to that of the Good Friday Agreement, and I mentioned this on the previous occasion the witnesses came before the committee.

I envisage that the United States would have a role to play in that and that both Governments, Westminster and Dublin, would have a major role to play also. I also envisage a possible concluding agreement being based on financial supports from Europe and the US. I would like the witnesses' views on that. I am not in a position to tell anybody what to do but if they agree that such a model is out there, so to speak, it would help the debate if they were to agree that such a possibility is out there also. I do not believe in the myth that this is not affordable. I believe it is absolutely affordable over a transition period. There is a model in the South on which we can work in transforming Northern Ireland. There are major areas of deprivation in Northern Ireland, much more so than in the South. That is not to say my county has not suffered. It is still suffering and we are trying to get what we deserve. I would like both witnesses' views on that. I thank the Chairman for accommodating me.