Mr. Pat Hynes:

The challenge as the dust begins to settle after what has been a tumultuous couple of years is to chart where we can go from here. As I have already outlined, there is quite a lot of concern and distrust about where everybody now stands at the end of what has been a pretty difficult period.

I still think that the economic and social development of parts of Northern Ireland is an issue that has not really been touched on at all. The areas that have been most impacted by the conflict are the areas that invariably have been ignored the most in terms of any real economic or social benefit following the success that we have seen on this part of the island. IBEC would be very strong, and we have done some work with it on some of the dialogue and opportunities that exist for Northern Ireland to explore the opportunities that exist in terms of an economy of maybe €450 billion or €500 billion on the southern border, and the opportunities for closer work and benefit around plugging into that. We have begun to focus on where we can create economic opportunities and jobs, etc.

Where the island and its relationships can go is a broad question. As I have said to previous speakers, that requires us to delve into some deep and searching questions on what we want this island to look like and the nature of the relationship with the neighbouring island. I believe that they have got to shoulder this weight of history we share with them. The discussions I see over the course of the next couple of years include exploring ways to analyse the economic position across the island, and how we can look at conveying to our British neighbours across the water the importance of working in consort with us all here in managing whatever shape emerges in the future. That can only be done in the context of more engagement, a greater level of trust and a deeper sense of the challenges, including the fears that are being felt by many around what the future may or may not hold. So we need deeper dialogue, a willingness to go into conversations with an open mind, and being available to have minds changed as to what might ultimately work as an outcome. There must be a big focus - we have started this quietly - on how to get economic and social benefit into the areas that were most impacted by the Troubles and have benefited very little from the peace dividend.

The experience we have had down here of building an economy over the past 35 years is something we could share with some people up above.