Professor Mark Lawler:

I will answer part of the question. I remember meeting Ms Gildernew in Washington in 2007 and it is good to see her again.

I will give an example of how transformative our work has been and how it is regarded. The Economistruns a world cancer series conference every year. It has invited me and Dr. Ned Sharpless, director of the National Cancer Institute, to talk specifically about the initiative over the past 20 years, how it can be used as a model for other parts of the world and how the NCI will interact with other parts of the world. I guess that shows independently that this is a big deal in terms of what we have done together over 20 years.

I am glad Ms Gildernew mentioned the two examples of paediatric cancer surgery and radiotherapy in the north west. That shows we can do it, which is important because when you have an example of something that works, then you can say let us try that model and do it again. We may have to nuance it in different ways, but from a cancer research perspective, it has led immeasurably to partnerships and opportunities that had not been there before.

From a cancer research perspective, it has led immeasurably to partnerships and opportunities that had not been there before. We have also highlighted the importance of the European aspect of funding. Thankfully, even though Brexit has happened, Northern Ireland can still go into EU Horizon Europe programmes. Who are the closest partners and best partners to work with? They are those just across the Border. This makes a lot of sense from a practical point of view. We certainly see opportunities in this.

The second question on an all-island health service is slightly more difficult. Certainly committee members can see what we have done. I hope there will be other examples. It goes back to what Professor Lowery said and perhaps she may want to comment on this. Sometimes we need to look at economies of scale and things we can do together. It does not make sense to have four or five different places all doing the same thing, perhaps not very well, if we could bring it all to one place and provide the infrastructure, talent and expertise to allow us to deal with a particular clinical condition.