Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)

We will have to do something about all these acronyms. I am sure the Minister accepts that it makes sense - socially, politically and economically - for the relevant interests on this small island to work together on many of these issues. He said that "no joint initiatives are under way at present". I assume he appreciates that such initiatives represent the way forward. I welcome the fact that he met Conor Murphy to discuss cross-Border co-operation. Does he not agree that such co-operation makes economic sense in these tough economic times? We discussed the price of school books earlier this afternoon. Perhaps that problem can be examined in this context. People want these efforts to be rolled out across this small island, particularly in Border areas. Surely a spatial strategy should be used to work out where kids should go to school or to draw up common sense transport routes. My main question relates to whether the Minister intends to build on the co-operation that existed in the past. Does he think there is greater potential for much of this to be rolled out?

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