Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I emphasise the Government is fully committed to the Good Friday Agreement, the principle of consent and the institutions that were established at that time. The need to address economic business development matters on the whole island was recognised and resulted in the establishment of InterTradeIreland, the cross-Border trade and development body.

InterTrade Ireland is one of the six North-South implementation bodies established under the Good Friday Agreement. Its mission is to support businesses, through innovation and trade initiatives, to take advantage of North South co-operative opportunities, driving competitiveness, jobs and growth. InterTrade Ireland has been doing wonderful work in supporting businesses on a cross-Border basis. The Deputy mentioned the Dr. Kurt Hübner report. I am aware of the report and my understanding is that it undertakes some economic analysis of issues arising in the event of the potential unification of Ireland I am also aware that the report's conclusions are based on an economic model and a significant number of assumptions so it would be very difficult to say whether the conclusions of the report on the potential growth boost to the Irish economy would be borne out in practice. There is a significant range of different legal, administrative, regulatory and financial systems in place and Northern Ireland is part of the much larger United Kingdom economy. However, regardless of the political structures in place on the island there is an overwhelming economic case to be made for more economic agreement and I absolutely support and encourage more cross-Border initiatives.

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