Ms Aingeal O?Donoghue:

I thank the Deputy for her comments on the data because it is a really big issue. It also came up very clearly in the NESC report when it published the big report it did, Shared Island: Shared Opportunity, that having a better database and a shared database would be a very significant enabler of the works. I thank the Deputy for highlighting that.

As regards qualifications, etc., occasionally things come to us that are problematic in that area. In the context of preparation for Brexit, a huge amount of work was done on recognition of qualifications both on the island and between Britain and Ireland. The automatic recognition of qualifications that was there under the EU framework fell away. A great deal has been done between the different regulatory and sectoral bodies to ensure that it is possible that qualifications are recognised. The point we would make, however, is that it is now sometimes more complicated, but the thrust is very much to ensure that the qualifications are recognised.