Professor William Gallagher:

On the question about what is required next, we have done well under funding from the North-South research programme. That is great. One third of the funding went to North-South cancer research programmes. We did not expect it but we were delighted because, in some sense, we worked hard to come up, collaborate and try to interact. That stood us in good stead. For us to get to the level where we can have a major impact, certain things are required. One aspect is a big programme that brings everybody together. This is where I will mention a model such as a co-centre. It could be a different type of model but, for example, there are pre-existing Science Foundation Ireland, SFI, centres that are allied towards industry, in many cases. An emerging concept is that of a co-centre, where collaboration is encouraged North and South and east-west. Such co-centres are now emerging in the areas of climate and food security. We would like to be able to bid for a programme in our space. Part of the requirement is to make sure there is suitable funding from each of the three jurisdictions. There should be a way of discussing and being able to facilitate that with some of the Deputy's colleagues because, ultimately, without that movement, there will not be a call in that space.