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

Professor Doyle also mentioned economic growth in his opening statement. Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to study his opening statements in detail and I missed his oral presentation. None of the presentations referred to the growth in the all-island economy since 1998. I have often said in this committee that one of the unsung successes of the Good Friday Agreement is the remarkable growth in trade, particularly benefiting Northern Ireland with the increase in trade North-South, though we have benefited as well.

Does Professor Doyle not think there should be much more emphasis on outlining, in detail, what has happened in the context of us having a political system that allows co-operation on a North-South basis, quite rightly, and the new political dispensation - if you want to call it that - with the cessation of violence and the Good Friday Agreement being in place? Our Cathaoirleach invited IBEC when we were doing a report on the workings of the Good Friday Agreement to mark its 25th anniversary a year ago. IBEC, InterTradeIreland and others were here and they made very heartening presentations from the point of view of what has been achieved and the potential to do even more.