Dr. Seamus McGuinness:

Even looking at the issue of human resources and pay grades, it is a hugely complex area. All of these questions are hugely complex. I am saying that the work the ESRI is doing is populating the question of how things stand now. The planning bit is much more complex than anything that could be achieved. It would require something like an all-island Bengoa commission on health, and something similar in education. That requires investment, scale and time. There is a point beyond which we cannot answer any more questions because it is on that planning phase that has not been initiated. That will require a huge amount of resources and technical expertise across many areas. We can look at the Scotland's Future document as some sort of blueprint for that. In a sense, that was simpler because they had their own education system and health system so the scale of this planning process will be well beyond what was required for the independence referendum.