Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)

Gabhaim buíochas ag Émer agus Eoghan as ucht a bheith linn ar maidin.

I very much welcome this report. When we hear the shared island discussed in the public sphere we do not have a full understanding of its various aspects. The infrastructural piece is probably the most visible to a lot of people but the understanding through research and the dialogue in civic society are the two pieces that are equally as important towards underpinning that overall agenda. I commend Ms Deane for bringing a very welcome focus on those today.

I want to run through a few bits and pieces, if that is all right, and maybe at the end the witnesses could give me their view on it. As my background is in research I am very much interested in what the ESRI has been doing and I have a general question on the scope of research. Is there an equivalent body to the ESRI in Northern Ireland with which the ESRI engages? It is very welcome that the shared island unit is engaging with the ESRI here. However, to build a shared understanding, and a shared research understanding, it would be useful to know if there is a counterpoint or counter-balance to the ESRI in Northern Ireland to provide a full buy-in on the shared island agenda from a research point of view.

I welcome that an economic overview of the whole island is part of the research programme. One area of particular interest to me is the all-island labour market, not just with regards to the barriers that exist to a full and seamless market, but also in terms of the overall skills agenda. There is a really good piece for us here in terms of where our comparative advantages exist as an island and how we make sure we have the skills agenda that corresponds to that. I am interested in hearing Ms Deane's thoughts on how we can advance and drive that forward.

I read Ms Deane’s statement and some previous material. Something I am interested in and have also raised with the Taoiseach in the Dáil is sport and grassroots sports engagement. Ireland is unique in that the majority of sporting codes operate on all-island basis. That is a natural place for shared island work to take place. I would love Ms Deane to expand on what work has been done with national governing bodies across the island but also on grassroots engagement.

I am very supportive of the focus the shared island unit has on civic society links. One of the underused aspects of the Good Friday Agreement is the civic forum. It would have been a great vehicle for increasing and improving an engagement with civic society in Northern Ireland. I am glad to see that is a focus of the Government going forward. I would like the witnesses’ views on the desired outcomes. What does good look like with regard to the overall fund?

The Chair mentioned the links between the work in the North South Ministerial Council. Will Ms Deane elaborate on the 16 different ministerial dialogue events. What are the key outcomes for those and how do they tie into all of this stuff? I see all this good research. I see the high-level political buy-in. I see the institutional framework there. To the public looking in on this, it is not necessarily clear how all that stuff knits together. I can see that all the ingredients are there but how do we get to the outcome of it as well?

The infrastructural progress that has been made is documented. That is very welcome and is key to it. It is all leading in particular to building Derry up as an economic and social hub for the north-west. It is also the realisation of a lot of the things we want to achieve around the all-island labour market, around being a skills-focused economy and so on. Derry is a really good example of how we do that. I thank the witnesses for their time and their report.