Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is great to have Ms Deane and Mr. Duffy here, and I thank them for how accessible they are on projects. It must be great to have roles that are so positive. The news that the North-South Ministerial Council, NSMC, is going to meet again takes the pressure off in some regard. When the North-South strands were not operating, we were coming to the witnesses to assist us in forging North-South co-operation and opportunities, and now it is great to see that will be re-established. I want to give a nod to the hugely positive work the unit is doing in recognising opportunities, taking on shared challenges, one-island approaches and two-island approaches. It has been hugely beneficial.

Moving on, Deputy Feighan and I wanted to focus on the Sligo-Enniskillen greenway and the Glenfarne Wood opportunities. The Part 8 application is complete and that included a boardwalk, a permanent platform and 3 km of new greenway. There is open swimming and a trail. To Deputy Feighan and I, it is a perfect example of where the shared island focus should go because of that history but also because of the very practical improvements it is going to bring to that region, in terms of both recreation and tourism. We hope that is something we can start communicating with the witnesses directly about.

The second issue I wanted to mention was some work I am doing on gambling and gambling awareness. There is an organisation called Gambling with Lives. It is UK-based but it is very much of the view that the challenges we face with problem gambling are the same, north and south of the Border, and that there is certainly a piece to do around education and awareness. It has a programme that is ready to roll out. I have introduced it to Foróige, and the organisation is looking at including it in its programmes. However, at the moment there is no real home for it because the social impact funding that will come under the new gambling regulator is not ready to go. This is also a slightly different proposition because it is an all-island approach and, therefore, I wondered if there could be a home for that in the shared island initiative, and opening up that conversation. The GAA is interested, and it would be great to get it onto the curriculum. As Foróige has a presence all over the island with our target audience, that is something we should pursue.

I also wanted to know what the programme is for educational underattainment. It is really important, and probably has not got the attention that it deserves in light of the unionist welcoming of the work that will do. There is a lot of interest in what it is going to look like. Taking on the role of making sure the peace and Good Friday Agreement dividend extends to everybody should be a core objective of the unit's work, and I am very pleased to see it in there.