Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is huge potential there. It has been growing continuously with the support of Donegal County Council, the North West Region Cross Border Group, and so on. It is not the Minister's intention, and I hope it is not the intention of the office, but the office should always look at matters on an all-island basis and not turn its back on that in future. We hope things will not go wrong in terms of the economics and stuff like that, but it has happened in the past, unfortunately, and that has set things back a wee bit. We are beyond that now and I hope we will stay beyond that and that this situation does not arise in future, because there is huge potential there. Letterkenny, Derry, Strabane and so on have huge potential as well. Education must be a vital part of that to make it happen and make it work. There are already thousands of Donegal students at the North West Regional College in Derry, so it is happening on the ground and we just need to ensure it keeps on growing.

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