Mr. Stephen Douds:

I thank Dr. Soares and I thank also Deputy Haughey for his question. What links both questions is the notion of economic relations between both jurisdictions on the island. As Dr. Soares has said, while the political environment might not be the most conducive to economic co-operation, businesses are in the business of getting on with it. That is true for farming, which is Northern Ireland's biggest business. There are a number of straws in the wind. I am no economist but certainly from following business news and from picking up some straws in the wind, there is a more dappled picture, and perhaps a more complex and mottled picture, of the opportunities that the protocol is presenting and especially in manufacturing and the food sector in Northern Ireland. An emphasis or a little bit more attention on economic opportunities, which sometimes is ahead of the political debate and dialogue, might open up a slightly more complex picture.

On the shared island initiative, we have benefited from very positive engagement with the shared island unit in the Department of the Taoiseach. It is also worth saying that I am aware from the Irish Association and many of our members, and I know from some of the conversations in this wider ad hoc group, many of the organisations associated with the Centre for Cross Border Studies welcome the language used about the shared island. It shifts the dial slightly. Since it was announced, the Taoiseach and that Department have not had as much bandwidth because of Covid, which has demanded so much time and attention from politicians and from civil servants. There is enormous potential there. The potential exists alongside the work of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the reconciliation fund that is run from that Department. I believe that some flesh on the bone of what the shared island unit might be able to do and might be able to fund would be very welcome. One significant point is that it is operating also at local authority level, sometimes away from the Assembly and the heated context of the Assembly. There are Assembly elections due next year and at a local authority level, with North and South working together, it might be possible to achieve some good work around capital development projects there.