Ms Aingeal O?Donoghue:

I thank the Senator and the Chair for their words of encouragement. As we are moving into the next phase of the work, we want to see ways of having greater political involvement in our engagement, dialogue and events. We are very happy to talk to the committee in more detail about that. We are still at the thinking phase of what it might look like. I am concerned about getting the balance right between being inclusive and making sure all voices are heard while also bringing the political stream into the discussion in a clearer way. That would be important in a regional way or on a regional basis, for example. I very much take the point about engagement with this committee. I am happy to have that conversation in more detail.

As regards Senator Currie's questions, we have a very open door in terms of who approaches us with proposals and ideas. We encourage people to come forward with ideas. However, we must bear in mind that the shared island fund is a capital fund. Personally, from time to time I would love a little more flexibility in that regard but it is a capital fund, which means our focus is on capital projects. All the other funds and departmental schemes are there for a purpose as well and they also need to be mined and accessed, as will be the PEACE PLUS programme with its over €1 billion of funding. I am happy to hear from the Senator or for her to say to an organisation to get touch with the shared island unit, but she should bear in mind that the shared island fund is for capital funding. Of course, we are also very interested in meeting organisations in any event to talk to them, hear from them about what they are doing and get their views on issues. That can also be part of the engagement. Mr. Duffy and the team continue to do a massive programme of outreach. I think there have been 80 engagements since the last time we met the committee.

On the A5, it is a Northern planning and environmental issue at the moment. We continue to state to the Northern Executive at official and political level our commitment to it but, frankly, I cannot see anything we can do until it gets through those planning issues. We have very strong engagement with the Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure and we are very focused on whether there are problems or gaps we can resolve, but on this project I have to say that I do not see anything we can do. Obviously the Minister for Infrastructure, Nichola Mallon, and her team would be better able to speak to this but I do not see any options until that planning and environmental piece happens.

I might bring Mr. Duffy in on the matter of the regional Border groups. As part of our work on the NDP, there was extensive consultation with the regional Border groups, not just the north west group but also ICBAN and the Dublin-Belfast corridor. We are encouraging them to think creatively and ambitiously and come forward to us with projects. I will hand over to Mr. Duffy to talk more about that.

The matter of the SCoTENS work was well spotted. Yes, it is new and has been a very interesting initiative. It is complemented by the work the ESRI is doing. That is more about educational achievement and attainment but the SCoTENS work will be very interesting in a more practical way.

The Senator also mentioned the all-island research centres. Discussion is going on there as regards funding. We have been fairly forward in indicating our commitment to funding but there needs to be funding from the other side as well. There are some things we can do on our own, as it were, or we can fund unilaterally, and the research programme is an example of that. There are some things where there has to be engagement between the Executive and the Irish Government around funding, as well as governance and structures. We remain very committed. There is a lot of ongoing work on the research centres, for example with regard to the design, the governance and the areas of priority.

We continue to worth with both Belfast and London on the funding issue. Mr. Duffy might like to add to that.