Mr. Martin Robinson:

I will add to what Ms Hearty has said. Regarding whether we get on and do the work, we absolutely do. Over the years, we have established several very practical support programmes to help companies in both jurisdictions sell and trade across the Border. These include our Acumen programme, through which we provide a sales resource and funding for a business to put a salesperson in the cross-Border market to drive sales. We have plenty of examples of businesses that through our support in Ireland have not only then sold successfully into Northern Ireland but have subsequently used Northern Ireland as a land bridge to sell into the wider GB market and beyond. At the same time, we are always refreshing our supports and looking at where the needs are and changing them.

Just this year as well, we have also launched a new first-time accelerator programme to try to encourage more of those businesses that, for different reasons, are not looking to the cross-Border market to realise the opportunity that is there, provide practical, hand-holding support to enable them to take the first steps, to trade successfully and then, in turn, to pass them over to Invest NI and Enterprise Ireland to take them further afield. We work very closely with the LEOs here in the South and the LEAs in Northern Ireland. These are just some of the examples where strong partnerships are a key part of our success. We have a comprehensive range of supports, advice and information resources to help companies to take the critical first steps and then to grow their sales on the island.