Mr. Michael D'Arcy:

This is a very difficult issue. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, reported on the low level of cross-Border movement. I did some research nearly a decade ago for the Institute of Technology, Sligo. We thought the change in fees would prompt more cross-Border movement but it did not happen. Perhaps too much of the discussion is buried in the second level piece and not enough is focused on the third level piece and the piece beyond that. In other words, where are people going when they come out of third level? Then you start looking at the all-island labour market. The gap here is the fact we are not sufficiently connecting up the skills conversation and the all-island labour market conversation. The place I look to most is the north west, in fairness, and what has been happening between Letterkenny and the University of Ulster and what has been driven there in the past to underpin the needs of the development of local firms and companies and, indeed, in the public sector, not just in the private sector, by more interactivity between the institutions there. More particularly, courses in Letterkenny help people in Derry and vice versa. There has not been enough of that.

The Royal Irish Academy has some very high-level ideas about the whole of the greater north west that would potentially incorporate about 12 or 13 different institutions on both sides of the Border. How will that be connected with what the committee is asking us about how business will develop and how the economy will be developed in the region? Then we can get down to the skills, such as the obvious ones to do with climate action, climate change, etc. To address the matter of apprenticeships, however, there are almost no real conversations about how we offer someone on either side of the Border a joined-up pathway that firms can link into on the output side and schools and institutions can link into on the input side. I am sorry to keep going back to this during this discussion, but education was one of the areas under strand two of North-South co-operation.

Will that conversation take place in that context or will business have to push it forward?

Mr. O'Brien has often made the point about the potential for Skillnet to be rolled out on an all-island basis. He has made the point about the fund that is available here that business has paid into. Is it €1 billion or €1.5 billion that is sitting there waiting for something to do and a use to be found? Could we use that as a model to fund a roll-out of Skillnet, in co-operation with the agencies in the North to do so effectively? There is much opportunity here but it takes work. It does not happen organically but has to be made to happen and it takes work to make it happen.

Sorry, I have used up everyone else's time by speaking too much and do not want to use up Ms Hanna's time.