Mr. Niall Gibbons:

I reiterate the point made by Ms Andrews about cross-Border tourism and the capacity to travel freely across the island. This is a point of which some people may not be aware. We have done a lot of work around the globe over the past while in informing people about the common travel area. The UK Home Office has made an announcement that what is known as the electronic travel authorisation, ETA, will come into force in quarter 4 of this year for Qatar and in quarter one of next year for the United Arab Emirates. This system means non-Irish or non-British nationals who want to travel to Northern Ireland via the Republic of Ireland will need an ETA, for which they will have to register and pay. This is potentially a significant barrier to all-island tourism development. It has been flagged with our colleagues in the Home Office, and our colleagues in Northern Ireland are well aware of it. A total of 70% of people who go on holidays to Northern Ireland from North America and mainland Europe go there via the South. The ETA has the capacity to disrupt much of the progress we have made. We need to keep an eye on it.