Dr. Stephen Farry:

I thank the Chair. Good morning to Ms Deane and Mr. Duffy. I thank them for all their hard work in this area. We very much welcome the work of the shared island unit. It is a tremendous example of practical North-South co-operation in action and making a real difference.

I will focus on looking ahead. There has been a massive announcement right behind the officials. What do they think is the timescale for the next round of programme announcements? What is the lead-in time for developing future projects? I appreciate that quite a few of the announcements made in recent times had a very long lead-in time for development, in many respects. I would also like to get a sense of the balance between capital and revenue. Will the shared island unit still largely prioritise capital projects? I appreciate there have been a few revenue-linked areas for projects but, due to the spending constraints and tails of commitment, is the intention to still lean very heavily towards the capital area?

To what extent is the mapping of future areas of co-operation structured? Is it still ad hoc, depending on the initiative of different Ministers and Departments, North and South? How will a framework be put in place to ensure that is done on the basis of a proper needs-based analysis? I am very conscious of the revenue situation with the Northern Ireland budget. The huge problems with that have been well articulated.

On capital pressures, again, there is massive oversubscription in terms of available resources versus the potential projects. To what extent has the shared island unit been cited on, in effect, the full ambit of the Northern Ireland investment plan in its current draft form to see where there are opportunities for tie-up?

Some of my colleagues talked about education quite a bit. I will talk more about health co-operation. Examples of training places for future medical professionals in universities have been presented. How do we ensure those provide an investment in the workforce in Northern Ireland and do not simply provide a route for training more people for the labour market in the South? I am particularly mindful of the growing distortions in salary levels, especially in the areas of education and health. These are causing difficulties. In particular, with many difficult decisions coming up in the health area in Northern Ireland in future years, and no doubt in the South as well, how can that mapping and investment be done? There is a very clear example in the south Down-Armagh area, where there is a lot of concern about Daisy Hill Hospital versus what may will be, from a purely Northern perspective, the need to invest heavily in the Craigavon area. Taking a wider perspective, however, Daisy Hill becomes much more strategically located. How is that aspect becoming a tangible factor in ongoing planning?

I appreciate there is quite a bit in all that. I will leave the officials to work through as much of it as they can.