Dr. Anthony Soares:

Not on that specific matter, but on the general issue of mutual recognition of professional qualifications. Since the first quarter of 2021, the Centre for Cross Border Studies has been undertaking quarterly surveys of North-South and east-west co-operation in, specifically, civic society organisations and local authorities on the island of Ireland to monitor where they are in terms of their North-South and east-west relations and collaborations and to look at what issues are coming up for them. One issue is the mutual recognition of professional qualifications, specifically on a North-South basis. We are talking here about North-South student enrolments. Students also need to have confidence that, if they are going to another jurisdiction to undertake something that leads to a professional qualification, on returning to their home jurisdiction they will be able to practice with that professional qualification. This is becoming an issue. The health sector is one sector where we are starting to see this coming up.

I want to point out and remind this committee that the protocol is on Ireland-Northern Ireland. It is not the Northern Ireland protocol. Article 11 of the protocol on Ireland-Northern Ireland sets out maintaining the necessary conditions for North-South co-operation. The European Union and the UK signed up to maintaining the necessary conditions for North-South co-operation. Unfortunately, I do not think they understood what the necessary conditions were. I think they have a very narrow vision of them. We need to ensure that they understand what the necessary conditions are, which includes mutual recognition of professional qualifications. It is not coming up with dual systems. It is maintaining mutual recognition of professional qualifications, which is not just in the hands of HEIs but is in the hands of professional bodies as well. We need to get them around the table and ensure that we have that mutual recognition of professional qualifications and we do not start to see obstacles arising in respect of that.

There are other issues coming up. Some of the HEIs are starting to encounter issues that people never thought of.

Unfortunately we did. We pointed out these issues would come up. The issues of cross-Border transfer of data and cross-Border insurance are coming up now. They all have to do with the fact that in current discussions around the protocol and its potential resolution, it is often forgotten that, because of the protocol, Northern Ireland is in the Single Market for goods but not for services and that has consequences, including for the further and higher education sector. This impacts on what students might do with regard to North-South student mobility.