Niall Blaney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, please, Chairman. I appreciate that. I thank both witnesses for coming here and I thank Mr. Mac Flynn for the presentation.

I am, however, a little taken aback by the approach NERI is taking as regards its presentation. Mr. Mac Flynn stated "Our mission is to produce research that will guide and inform policies that lead to the creation of sustainable and inclusive economies in both jurisdictions." I would have liked to have seen more beef to the bone in that context. There are a number of research elements, 62 areas, taking place through the shared island unit. There is very clear policy around that, not in the direction NERI is talking about here today but more in the direction of the all-island economy. I do not think anybody here would say that everything works very well down here and Northern Ireland should work in the same direction. It is not about that. As my colleague mentioned, I am from Donegal. The economy in Northern Ireland is really important to Donegal. When Northern Ireland does not work, that has a very serious impact on Border areas in a county such as Donegal. That is an area governed by the southern Government.

I have a very good example of the difficulties created there. For nearly 25 years, we have been fighting to have the N2-A5 upgraded and funds provided, etc., trying to create pressure where we can from a southern perspective to get that project moved forward. That is to better the region for all involved. Down south, there is the med industry and the tech industry, which is doing really well. In Northern Ireland, manufacturing is doing really well. We are not good in that area. Around mid-Ulster, it is now responsible for about 40% of exports. We have a lot to learn there from each other but if we do not do this in a joined-up approach, we are heading for the same old results over and over again. That is really the idea of the shared island unit. I am surprised the witnesses have not mentioned the unit in any part of their presentation.

However, I do want to discuss ways we can create a better means of moving forward. The north west is a very good example of that because, as regards the north-west city status region, on a cross-Border basis, politicians locally have been working in recent decades very closely and have moved on an awful lot of initiatives. That, to me, is the key element to driving the all-island economy. We have a lot of lessons to learn from that. Nobody is saying that it is all our way or all your way. It is a matter of collaboration and learning from each other in a way that is neither orange nor green but inclusive of all society, and that is where we need to be at. I do not see it as an argument about one model fitting all. Moreover, we are on a road of discovery here and are depending on organisations such as NERI to provide us with material to sit down and thrash out and say "That is an area we are not aware of" or "Maybe we need to learn more there". It is a matter of trying to find ways of moving forward in an inclusive way and to move away from this stop-start type of politics that exists in Northern Ireland and give people up there some hope.