Ms Órfhlaith Begley:

I welcome Mr. Clancy and Mr. O'Kane to the meeting and congratulate Mr. O'Kane as I know he has only recently been elected as president of the chamber. As a representative for the north-west region, it has been a very exciting time, particularly in terms of the city deal and the inclusive future fund. It has provided huge opportunities for the region. I had the privilege of representing the Strabane district, which comes under the north west. We will really see the fruits of that in terms of the regeneration of Strabane town but it will be transformative for the entire north-west region. I know the chamber has done a lot of work behind the scenes and participated in a lot of collaboration with the different partners to achieve and secure that funding. I commend Mr. Clancy because I know he has put many hours into securing that funding for the north west.

In terms of challenges for the north west, while it is great to see that investment, there are still a lot of challenges and much delivery is still needed for the region. Reference was made to the expansion of the Magee campus. While there has been progress on that, more work needs to be done. I have been harping on in this committee about connectivity and the need for the A5. We have seen progress on the A6 and, hopefully, the all-island rail review will reap rewards for the north-west region. There is a lot of work to be done but I know there is great collaboration in the north west. It is great to see the progress that has occurred to date. It is a really good example of how we can see the rewards of North-South co-operation between Donegal and the Derry-Strabane district.

I want to pick up on Mr. Clancy's point about the protocol. I know he said that a lot of members of Londonderry Chamber of Commerce have not really experienced too much difficulty in terms of the implementation of the protocol as a whole. I was in contact with some of the chamber's members from the Strabane area and Invest Northern Ireland about trying to profile the north-west region in terms of attracting investment and the benefits the protocol can bring. We have already seen that some businesses have relocated to the Strabane area as a result of the protocol and the benefits it offers in terms of access to the British and EU markets. Have the witnesses seen any growth in businesses locating to the north west as a result of the protocol? Do they see any potential for that in the time ahead?

Do the witnesses see any potential for that in the time ahead? The chamber has been working on the Succeed North West campaign. That is so welcome. I hope it will attract investment to the area. Well done to the chamber on all the work it is continuing to do. I congratulate Mr. O'Kane on the cross-Border workers' coalition. I am sure we would not be at the point we are at today in respect of the short-term measures had it not been for the campaigning. I hope there will be a long-term solution. I fully support the sending of correspondence to the Minister to highlight this issue once again for cross-Border workers because a significant number of people are affected by the double tax.

Perhaps Mr. Clancy would like to answer my question on investment since the advent of the protocol.