Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the Narrow Water Bridge, €2 million has been provided for the completion of the tender process for the bridge from the shared island fund. Louth County Council commenced the tender process in April and is due to conclude in October so hopefully it will be awarded this year or early next year. The Government will be appraised of the outcome of the tender and project costs. We will decide on the approach prior to the contract being awarded.

There has been significant funding for research provided from the shared island fund, not only North-South but also east-west. It is good to see the east-west element of the shared island fund taking shape. I can provide a note to the Deputy with some more detail on that. Some of the more interesting research that has been commissioned by the shared island fund is that comparing how systems operate in Northern Ireland compared with how they operate in the Republic whether in health or other areas. It is an open question as to whether a united Ireland will be a unitary state or not but were it to be a unitary state it is useful to have that baseline analysis done to know what the differences are. We know anecdotally but teasing them out, costing them and documenting them is significant and important work.

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