Ms Claire Hanna:

I thank the Chair. I also thank the Taoiseach for his attendance, participation and the overview of the shared island unit. Everybody agrees it is a really positive development in many ways for the evolving constitutional conversation and for people's basic and immediate needs and well-being, which can sometimes get a bit lost in the conversation when we are focusing exactly on the when and how of change rather than the why. We want to organise on an all-island basis and focus on what we can actually do with those powers. The way the unit is approaching those practical and infrastructural challenges, and joining up services, will do a lot more to move hearts and minds as well as doing a lot of that engagement. Even with the challenge of the Covid pandemic, that has been very impressive to watch. The focus on newer communities and younger generations is really welcome, as is bringing people into the conversation. An NGO I used to work with was working on trying to find a solution to malaria and used to say imagine if the answer is trapped in the mind of a nurse down the country somewhere. It is about pulling out all the ideas from across the island, including from people who are not necessarily engaged in political parties and some of the other networks and structures.

I do not want to go over what colleagues have already spoken about. I know transport, infrastructure and future-proofing, as in getting us ready for a transition to a low-carbon economy and life, has been discussed. I will touch briefly on skills and their regenerative potential. John Hume said many times that the best peace process is a job. Areas around the Border in particular may need more regeneration and some investment and opportunity to take advantage of some of the new jobs and new industries that will be available in the economy of the future. Skills and higher and further education will be a very important part of that. I have maybe been spending too much time with my colleague from Foyle, but I know Colum Eastwood has always talked a lot about the north west and the university. I am aware of the all-island task force on higher education and the Royal Irish Academy document on all-island higher education. Are there any plans around that issue?

I also have a more technical question. Yesterday, the Northern Ireland affairs committee met with the UK Government's Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. We discussed some of the new funds, such as the shared prosperity fund and some of the other funds that will replace much of the transformative European money. What level of engagement are the officials able to have with some of those funds that may be purporting to try to achieve some of the things the shared island unit is doing? It would be good if we could make all these investments more than the sum of their parts and make sure that, at a planning level, we are able to tie up and bring together all the opportunities.