Mr. Michael D'Arcy:

I thank the Chairman and the committee for this opportunity. This is an important committee on the island of Ireland because it is one of the few formal spaces where all-island thinking must be paramount. That is important, especially at this time. I am here to discuss my scoping study, Delivering a Prosperity Process: Opportunities in North/South Public Service Provision. It is not said often enough that North-South interaction has delivered substantial benefits for both jurisdictions on the island. This is something which, perhaps, we do not appreciate or look to often enough as we consider what we have to do in this new era. Why can I say that? Essentially, I know this because I was there, as Max Boyce says. In the early 1990s I first became involved in North-South economic and enterprise policy development. When I reflect on the difference between then and now, I realise it is substantial and significant. There is peace and there are agreements, institutions and a wide range of other interactions. Above all, there are relationships that did not exist in the early 1990s, especially at political level and among politicians.

This leads me to one of my themes today. Given the important decisions that politicians are making this week in the Houses, typical of the choices that have to be made in these times of serious budget adjustments, it is important the relationships in place between North and South that can deliver the types of recommendations I am making are used beneficially and productively on behalf of all the citizens of the island. I have always been involved in the thinking related to how to go about that. New thinking is needed because we are in a new era. The great recession has left us in a completely different place from where we were even five or six years ago. Governments are engaged in adjustment programmes. The report notes that in this jurisdiction we are 65% through the adjustment programme required by the troika. The United Kingdom is only 12% through its programme. In his budget speech the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, said that he pushed out the end of their project until the latter part of the decade.

We are discussing public services. Public expenditure is under pressure and reforms and adjustment are required.

New thinking will be needed if North-South co-operation is to be part of that. I put forward ten suggestions in that regard. I place them in the context of a prosperity process. In the early 1990s, everyone spoke about peace and prosperity but we ended up with a peace process. Now that economics is dominating thinking, surely it is time we moved the focus onto the prosperity side. I suggest that could be captured in a prosperity process.

Last October I presented the study to the enterprise, trade and investment committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly and there was very good interaction at the meeting. The prosperity focus seemed to be a comfortable space in which to discuss opportunities for co-operation and interaction. The areas of most interest in my suggestions were to do with jobs, energy, education and the EU, especially the Presidency. There is a sense of the necessity to move on. There has been much talk and now is the time to do something.

Senator George Mitchell addressed this committee earlier this year. I noted he said that in brokering a lasting peace the process requires endless perseverance. I can attest to that. He also said that the role of a mediator was to establish a context for reasonable discussion to occur, often simply by listening, being patient, imaginative and practical. I am here to listen to members of this committee and to answer any questions as best I can. I am happy to give further details about the study and its recommendations.