Ms ?mer Deane:

I thank Ms Hanna for that. I will let Mr. Duffy speak on the specifics of the dialogues. On the two areas she mentioned, health and specifically cancer care and then energy security, again, they are absolutely the priorities identified by the Taoiseach. They are two of the three priorities, the third of which was skills, that he identified at the most recent shared island forum in Dublin Castle last month. They are places in which it makes absolute sense to work on an all-island basis. In terms of energy security, obviously, we have a single electricity market and we have our interconnector and, therefore, whatever we develop in terms of renewables will have an impact in both jurisdictions. There is good work going on between the Departments and it is ongoing. If there is a specific added value the shared island unit can bring, we are always open to doing that.

On North-South cancer care, again, there is very good work going on between the Departments. The Ministers spoke recently and will meet next month. Cancer care and especially specialist cancer care is one of the items on the agenda because, again, when we have a small island with a small demographic, it makes sense to create the scale to be able to provide specialist cancer services that neither jurisdiction could provide on their own. Therefore, it is absolutely an area of interest for us. Hopefully, next time we appear before this committee, we will have something to say in that space.