Joe McHugh (Fine Gael)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Gallagher, to the House and congratulate him on his well-deserved appointment. Even while he was in Europe local issues always had a place in his heart and he never left Donegal out of the picture, which is much appreciated. A good decision was made in appointing him Minister of State.

From his European experience, the Minister of State will understand that calls have been made to consider models of regionalism under which power is brought back to the people of a region. He should carry that through in his current post. The north-west is a natural region. When I refer to this region, I do not mean only Donegal but the area that encompasses Tyrone, Derry, Fermanagh, Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim. I have never considered that this area is divided by the Border. When we talk about the Border, we sometimes overlook the co-operation that has been exercised in that region. In order for a small county like Donegal to survive on the periphery, it must co-operate with places such as Derry.

There is a committee in the area called the European Regional Network for the Application of Communications Technology, ERNACT, with which the Minister of State will be familiar. Derry and Donegal co-operate closely in terms of IT and former Senator Paddy McGowan used to sit on the committee. Since 1990, this innovative committee, which has come up with some great ideas, has drawn down about 13 million ECU for cross-Border co-operation and programmes.

Senator O'Toole referred to a company that was trying to get into Letterkenny and Derry and which finally established its operations in Derry because no ISDN or broadband facilities were available in Letterkenny. ERNACT has always proposed that we set up a digital hub that would straddle the Border. Rather than thinking in terms of having to choose between Derry and Letterkenny, we should look to the expertise and opinions of this committee.

I have sat on the ERNACT committee for the past three years along with Sinn Féin's Mr. Mitchell McLoughlin. That is where the real cross-Border discussion takes place. It is not the sort of rubbish Sinn Féin comes out with on the national airwaves about wanting the Six Counties back and other such propaganda. Mr. McLoughlin sat on the committee with me and we co-operated for the good of the north-west region. I sometimes criticise party politicians for using the Border to gain votes. We should use it to benefit our communities in an economic and social way.

The BMW region is an Objective One region and was established simply because it needed investment and funding from Europe. We do not give it enough autonomy. I appeal to the Minister of State to consider giving it more autonomy because, otherwise, the spatial strategy will not work. It is a mechanism for filtering money and we must give the region the respect it deserves in keeping with the European model of regional autonomy.