Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

It is very important, in that context, to have a framework within which all this work can be done. That is why the work between the two Departments is so important. Indeed, the shared island unit would also have a role there. It is important to have something ongoing that can be built on to capture all of this expertise and bring it together.

I note references to Professor Mike Tomlinson and the work he has done. In the conclusion to one of his papers he states that preliminary attempts to model the integration of the North's population with the South's tax and social security regime demonstrate that the challenges can be overcome without too much disruption, which is noteworthy.

We recognise that there are huge data gaps. Yesterday at meetings of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach and Committee on Budgetary Oversight, we had an opportunity to examine the work of the CSO. It was suggested at the aforementioned committees that we need to have statistics that are comparable North and South and that those committees should engage with their counterparts in the North to facilitate the work that the ARINS project and others are doing.

I have no further questions for now so I will defer to my party colleague, Deputy Tully.