Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank our guests for their time. I have always admired the work of the ESRI and, therefore, it is a pleasure and an honour to have Dr. Barrett and Dr. Lawless in the room with us. When I hear Brexit, I also think about climate and carbon footprint. Is work being done to consider not just the economic benefits but also the environmental benefits of this cross-Border support for businesses? There is a significant opportunity associated with the much lower carbon footprint of selling products to the North or bringing goods from the North down here compared with that of importing goods from other countries, such as England, mainland Europe, China and all the other places we import mad things from. There is a significant opportunity there as COP26 takes place and the climate emergency becomes clear. Is anybody thinking about the fact that this can be a positive if the protocol is used to promote businesses and give householders and businesses an opportunity to be part of the solution and stop buying stuff from everywhere else because they can get it from businesses in Northern Ireland or in southern Ireland. That should be part of this discussion. Brexit has happened and we now need to look at positive ways of working with what we have. We are missing a trick in respect of the carbon footprint and the benefits of an all-island promotion of business. I am not sure if all the businesses in the North are aware of all the stuff they can access from the South andvice versaand I do not know if anything is being done about that.