Ms Carol Margey:

I will touch on the question about blockages and wider objectives.

The North West Gateway Initiative initially sought to provide a non-statutory framework for development for the north west. As this was never provided, it is very difficult to measure what was put in place or the level of engagement between Departments. Communications between the committee and us, and between the North-South Ministerial Council secretariat and us have improved over the past year, and this has led to a great feeling of positivity in the region, which we have disseminated to the councils. We appreciate the support. Without a strategic framework, it is difficult to know what the wider objectives were other than to collaborate on certain areas.

On the super council issue, we have moved within the group and Derry City, Strabane District and Donegal County Councils will come together because Limavady and Magherafelt will no longer exist as an entity. We have already taken steps to implement the structure. They are still associate members and for the purposes of funding we will see out the funding with them. We will keep the good, strong relationships we have with certain members until they get organised and we can establish more formalised relationships again. It is a time of great change in the North and South and it is very important for us that the north-west gateway initiative is at the top of the agenda because with all the change we could lose the momentum behind it, which we do not want to happen.

The PEACE and INTERREG programmes have just gone to the European Commission for signing off. After that has been done, we will go into the full programme activity, which will include preparing pipeline projects. The Special EU Programmes Body, SEUPB, will be seeking pipeline projects to be developed by the partners. One will be a lead partner, possibly Donegal County Council or Strabane-Derry district council, as it will become. A business case will be generated and submitted through the shared spaces part of the programme for funding. It would be a particularly strong project in terms of shared space.