Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank InterTradeIreland for being here today. It is very timely that the witnesses are here because of what is happening in the North and the restoration of the Executive. I thank them for all the work they have done in spite of what they have been up against in terms of the North-South ministerial bodies and the lack of meetings and everything else. They have still managed to do an awful lot of work. The role of InterTradeIreland is absolutely critical at this juncture. Even on first reading of the command paper, some of what is in there on the all-island economy would be of great concern to me. We need to note this, particularly the repeal of the statutory instruments on the all-island economy. It is crazy. I would be confident that some of the nonsense can be set aside because of all of the good work done by InterTradeIreland and others, because of the pragmatism of businesses across the island and how this has been embedded, because of what the shared island unit is doing terms of research and development, and because of issues such as the all-island rail review. It is in the interest of everybody living on the island that the all-island economy works and that there is trade between the two islands and the EU.

There are great opportunities with regard to dual access for goods in particular. We need to do more exploration to see what it will mean for services. Great opportunities are being presented to us. There is an onus on us all to ensure it benefits everybody on the island and I thank the witnesses for their very good work. What are the main opportunities being presented by the restoration of the Executive and the North-South Ministerial Council? Specifically, would it benefit the strengthening of the all-island economy if the Irish Government and the North's Executive agreed a joint plan for development across the island?