Dr. Anthony Soares:

Deputy Tóibín asked me to give marks out of ten in terms of the level of integration between economic policy in the two jurisdictions. I will preface my answer by pointing out that I am a former academic who was known for not giving the highest marks ever. Our approach is to see the glass as half full rather than half empty. We are ambitious in our work and would like to see more happening. In our longer written submission we refer to some of the positive developments we have seen, including InterTradeIreland's recent launch of the Elevate programme. These are good things which give us some hope.

In terms of economic policy and the levels of integration, it is a question of identifying areas where co-operation makes sense and will bring a benefit to both jurisdictions and to citizens of the island. In order to identify those types of opportunities, one must proof policies and seek out potentials. If one does not look for opportunities, one will not identify them. In addition, if only one side is looking for opportunities and the other is not, there will not be a common view of where opportunities might lie. It is a question of facilitating co-operation in addressing issues like socio-economic disadvantage but also identifying opportunities to exploit potentials that are currently not being availed of because of the Border and the two jurisdictions managing their economic policies separately.

The Deputy referred to opportunities at local government level. Councils certainly are doing a lot in terms of cross-Border co-operation. A difficulty arises at local government level, however, in that community development looks at one part and economic development is hived off as a separate part, with the two only being joined together at the end. That approach will lead to missed opportunities. We must bring the two together, community and economic development, at local authority level. As I said, there is a lot going on at this level. I agree with Dr. Patterson that we need an emphasis on the principle of subsidiarity such that where there at people at the right level who are capable of addressing problems and opportunities for cross-Border collaboration, then it should be done at that level. At the same time, the two jurisdictions need to provide a larger framework for co-operation by local authorities.