Ned O'Sullivan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

My time is almost gone. I will briefly draw the Leader's attention - I am sure she is aware of the matter - to the announcement today by the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and a number of Ministers of the shared island cross-Border funding to expand the Ulster University's Derry Campus.This is grant aid from our Exchequer to support the Derry university to the tune of €56 million. This is a very significant investment in the youth of the country and is a very important step forward in the normalisation of politics on this island. We have seen too much of the orange versus green and of the cant and rhetoric. The Tánaiste started this two years ago and he received a very faint welcome but I am delighted to see that the Taoiseach and the whole Government are rowing in 100% behind it. It is starting to click in and the effects are there to be seen.

I was very disappointed that a prominent director of a group that calls itself Ireland's Future, in referring to the shared island unit, said it was small potatoes. These people have been talking themselves into a corner for the past three years and I do not see any potatoes.