Dr. Stephen Farry:

I thank the Chairman very much and wish everyone a good afternoon. I will pick up on the last of the questions, to an extent, on funding issues and broaden it out slightly. Can I have some comments, particularly from the northern perspective, given that I am an MP from the North?

First of all, on the direct support from the Northern Ireland Executive and the Department of Health, how do all of our witnesses see this being solved particularly in light of the uncertainty around budgets over the coming years and other health pressures? Our witnesses have already referred to the Belfast Region City Deal issue and some of the projects in that regard.

Also, on the perspective from Queen’s University Belfast, perhaps our witnesses might be able to talk about some of the other funds that are potentially available from the UK Government which are allocated on a competitive basis and to what extent can they be brought to the table to reinforce some of this work.

Then, more directly on the research pots that are available on a cross-border collaborative basis, first of all to what extent is Horizon Europe - as the successor to Horizon 2020 - a potential source of supports? There was obviously a very strong collaborative foundation to begin with in that regard. Is that a potential donor?

Also, on the US angle, in addition to the very specific health tripartite relationship, to what extent can the more general US-Ireland research partnership be also used to support this initiative? Sorry, if this is a cocktail soup of funding pots.