Ms Katie Lowry:

I will start from the culture side of things to give context to the collaboration of Ireland and the UK in the latest programme. The programme sets out a need for geographic diversity. Historically, the UK was not our main partner in culture. Ireland partnered with a diverse range of countries, involving 34 out of 40 or 41 participating. The latest seven-year programme ran from 2014 to 2020. A total of 300 partner organisations were involved with Irish projects. Only 52 were from the UK, which represented approximately 17% of all projects. Two were from Northern Ireland. We are conscious that Brexit has been a devastating change for the culture sector here, but the UK was not the mainstay or pillar of partnerships in the latest programme. The Creative Europe desk has worked with organisations based in the UK or Northern Ireland that have relocated and incorporated here to take part in the programme.