Mr. Gareth Hetherington:

If we assume that what we are talking about is five or ten years down the line at the earliest, there is an argument to make a judgment at that point as to whether devolution works for Northern Ireland. If we were making a decision today, we might reach a different decision from the one we would make in, say, ten years. Ultimately, we want a system that brings about regional convergence. A point was made previously that when the Good Friday Agreement was signed, Northern Ireland was at about 80% of the productivity of the UK average, and it is still there. There has been little or no regional convergence between Northern Ireland and UK averages, and that is not unique to the UK or Northern Ireland. Regional convergence is always a lot more complex than national convergence. Ireland is a really good example. It has converged, and then some, over the past 30 or 40 years with EU averages.

For me, the decision would have to consider whether, at the time, a devolved administration would be the best way to deliver regional convergence. We have been on a regional divergence journey for the past ten years that would suggest it is a good way to continue to administer Northern Ireland. If a different set of policies needed to be implemented from Dublin directly as a 32-county state, that would be the way to proceed.