Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Someone used to refer to the midlands as the Balkans with the different hospitals competing with each other. The north east is no different as Mr. Brady knows.

I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for her positive comments. As she said, education is key to jobs, quality of life, future engagement and that whole idea of the Atlantic innovation corridor. We are funding interesting research through the shared island unit, which was submitted by the Atlantic Technological University in Galway, on how peripheral or regional areas and be developed socially and economically. We can give the Deputy the contact details for the researchers in terms of what they are proposing to identify and what the ingredients are from a human capital perspective in the Border region to enable economic development. That was one of the projects that came through the application process and was awarded funding through an independent peer review. We do not get involved in deciding on the merits of research projects. They are independently reviewed but that struck me when the Deputy mentioned it.

We have commissioned the Higher Education Authority to conduct research this year to examine patterns and barriers to student mobility on the island and between Ireland and the UK more broadly. The Deputy's figures were more or less correct but what is interesting is that when we were with Queens University staff recently, they made a point to us that there had been a considerable jump in the number of applications from the Republic to the university.

That could be related to the Scottish fee aspect as well, we do not know. It could be a factor stemming from Brexit, because it will impact on this context as well. Potential problems were also indicated regarding student caps in the North. I do not understand that. Neither the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, nor the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, are here, but we do not have caps in the Republic. We do have caps on some of the professions. The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, is engaging in this regard. We need more people in areas such as therapies and medicine, for example, as well as others. We can ask the authorities in the North if we can get additional places for students from the Republic. That would help them and us in respect of extra placements. It is what we need to do in the short term. There is also a requirement for the study I mentioned that is examining this context.

I might have said this already, but I was struck by the postgraduate medicine programme on the Magee Campus of Ulster University. The students there apparently cannot get clinical placements in the Republic. We work to remove barriers such as these. Students on that programme will get placements in the North, potentially. There is no reason they should not, but clinical placements should be an all-island undertaking because there are different levels of hospitals, including tertiary, and specialisations, from paediatric to cancer to heart. All students, North and South, would benefit if there was a full range of access, especially in an area like medicine, to proper clinical placements and a wide range of them.

Moving from student mobility to the diaspora, this aspect is progressing. My understanding is that the legislation for that referendum is advancing, but I can get a note on it. I did not check it before I came in. Regarding the Ulster Canal, Deputy Tully has obviously been talking to representatives of Waterways Ireland, or perhaps not. The chief executive has an ambition for the higher things in life, as in a desire for €100 million straight up. I am jesting with the Deputy because I had an engagement in the context of the North-South bodies, and the chief executive, whose name I cannot remember, came in with all guns blazing. We will give him €14 million and that is not a bad start and no harm for engaging. We have given €12 million for phase 1 and €1 million for phase 2, and we are engaging with Waterways Ireland regarding phase 3. The €1 million for phase 2 is to allow preparatory work to be done and the representatives of Waterways Ireland are to come back to us in that respect. There is funding of €1 billion overall and we are trying to spread it out and get different areas covered. Those projects that make progress will gain more as well. To be fair to Waterways Ireland, it has a good record. The Ulster Canal is a fantastic amenity and has great tourism potential as well. We will be working with the organisation in this regard.

On the A5 project, the funding is there from our perspective. We will fund it more generally as well. Is the road from the Border to Clontibret a part of that?