Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 10 May 2017

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs

Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (Resumed)

2:10 pm

Mr. Brian Ó Caoindealbháin:

I would like to respond to the point that was made about co-operation. The extent to which North-South co-operation has become depoliticised since the Agreement has been one of the Agreement's quiet success stories. Perhaps the fact this has taken place within a wider European narrative about integration and cross-Border co-operation has taken some of the sting out of it for Northern unionists. I think we risk losing that through Brexit if there is a return to bilateral relations. Brexit has led to some conversations about long-term reunification. Maybe co-operation will again be seen as a stalking horse for that. I suggest that Brexit will put at risk the kind of supportive narrative that was there around co-operation.