Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach very much. I am sharing time with my colleague, Senator McGreehan. The witnesses will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of InterTradeIreland this year. There is much to be celebrated. It should put a clear message out there about what has been achieved despite the international challenges with regard to recession, pandemics and all of that, and also against the backdrop of the North-South Ministerial Council not being able to function fully since 2016 because of the institutions not meeting in Stormont with the Assembly and the Executive. We know the knock-on effect, particularly for all-Ireland implementation bodies as well. We have much to celebrate with the success of InterTradeIreland. I would hope that the message would be put out to the general public that the all-Ireland economy is being built and strengthened despite what politicians in other jurisdictions try to say.

Mr. Robinson also mentioned that trade has risen above the levels to be expected between two neighbouring economies of this size. That demonstrates very clearly that not alone are we neighbouring economies, but we are very much independent economies. There is a great message to send out there. IBEC and some other business representative groups were with us and they put out the message similarly. It is important from the point of view of showing what can be achieved without people waving flags or talking ideology, and people getting on with doing the business and providing jobs and the necessary supports being put in place by governments. It is a great message.

InterTradeIreland constantly does good research on cross-Border trade. Is there sufficient data available on cross-Border trade? Do other statutory agencies, North and South, need to do more research in that area to identify the gaps and identify the potential for development? I will defer to my colleague, Senator McGreehan.