Mr. Shane Campbell:

Deputy Brendan Smith's first question was on linkages between the third level institutions on a cross-Border or all-island basis. Our strategy document is very much built on the drive of the other regional stakeholders, their assets and strengths and the opportunities they bring. Included, of course, are our institutes of technology but also our colleges of further education.

We have had much partnering and good work and many positive projects and outputs created through the colleges and institutes working in our region. We are conscious of this and want to build on it. It is work that the colleges and institutes wish to do together. We have a forthcoming meeting with the president of IT Sligo. We will be linking in with the colleges in our region to discuss this matter and to determine how, through their working together with the eight member councils, our efforts and industry can be used to drive our region's fortunes forward.

The Northern Ireland councils, as part of the city growth deal ambitions and the strategy work, are very much working on the basis of coming together with the education and training providers to meet the needs of the area. We note the good work in the Republic between the education and training bodies, the institutes, the local employment offices, LEOs, and the local authorities. It is a question of how we can build on that. That is a key component of our strategy. The strategy has one key pillar, which concerns education, skills and training, or what we would refer to as the human capital of our area.

Deputy Brendan Smith referred to some of the very successful projects in our area, which are a testimony to the fact that where there is a need, our local authorities, communities and businesses can come together to meet it very successfully. We are working together quite actively on developing a new range of projects. It is very much within the ambitions of the framework of regional priorities, FRP, and the opportunities associated with councils and others working together.

We are mindful that there are supports and opportunities available at this time through shared island funding, UK shared prosperity funds and PEACE PLUS. We have a unique opportunity, with all these funds becoming available together, to meet the infrastructural needs of our area, provided that we have the projects. The local authorities have the industry and will to work together to try to address these issues. That work has been ongoing since the launch of the strategy, or even before it. It is always ongoing. We anticipate building it up more for the future.

Remote working is vital. We have seen it in our area and in all other areas in these times but we are mindful that our area has had more not-spots, shall we say, than others. We have a dispersed population and hard-to-reach areas. The people in these areas have the same right to broadband access as anybody in a town or larger population centre. Our work in recent years has been very much focused on broadband because we have been asked by the local authorities to bring them together to find solutions to the broadband challenges. Elected representatives, including councillors, will be well aware of the number of queries, complaints and issues raised with them about broadband, particularly in respect of rural areas. Broadband is probably one of the most commonly raised issues. We have completed several reports for both sides of the Border because of the various broadband strategies and policies of each jurisdiction. We wish to build on that. Since our reports have been completed, the issue of remote working has come more to the fore. That had featured very much within our strategy. We are mindful that if rural areas can provide access to services, they can be more competitive even than the larger towns and cities, which are dealing with issues of urban crowding. These have come to the fore, especially during the pandemic.

To enjoy the qualify of life, the idyllic surroundings etc. in our area, it is a matter of having an opportunity to access education, to be entrepreneurial and to be creative. People might require the basic health service that others can get because they may not be able to travel at certain times to the towns and villages. We note the good work of many of the county councils. Donegal County Council and others have been working on remote-working strategies. We are keen to build on this.

Last week in Northern Ireland, a report on broadband investment in Northern Ireland was released by the Northern Ireland Audit Office. The work on that report was initiated three or four years ago by ICBAN and was a follow-up to the reports we had identified. The report sets out several key considerations and lessons for the delivery of the broadband programmes in Northern Ireland and how, through the Northern Ireland Audit Office-----