Brendan Smith backs Shared Island Unit and 500 million fund

Thank you very much, Cahirleach, and I, like yourself and Neil, I welcome Angell and Oorn to our meeting. And again, as you said, Cahirleach, the scope of the work undertaken and being proposed by the Shared Island Unit is very impressive, it's very comprehensive. And I think Angell said in our introductory remarks that the work is all underpinned, the programme of work and the proposed investment is underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement in all its aspects. I very much welcome the commitment by Angell that the Ringfest 500 million that's available over the next few years, and that's very welcome, that that's additional funding. Because in the past, too often when we had European funding specifically for cross-border bodies and cross-border development, sometimes the officials in the line departments used that to substitute for what should have been line department funding. And we didn't get the additionality, all was that we deserved and that we needed. So I'm very glad that you're emphasising that this has to be additional funding and not substitute funding by some government departments. I am very pleased that the Shared Island Initiative has enabled the adequate funding to be put in place for the restoration of the Ulster Canal, representing that area. And I know of its importance both north and south from the point of view of developing and contributing to economic regeneration of rural areas on both sides of our border. And I come from the immediate area of the former Belly-Connel-Baldemore Canal, which was restored in the early 1990s, which is now the Erden Shannon Waterway, and it has been an outstanding success, contributing so much to the economy of Fermanagh, Cavan, Leitram, and further south as well. So I have no doubt that the Ulster Canal, when it's complete and it has to be undertaken on an incremental basis, that it will contribute and enhance rural regeneration and enhance economic development in areas like Clonus and back into Cavan and elsewhere as well. We discussed the last day, the importance of ensuring that you use the know-how, the expertise and the cooperation models that the local authorities have developed over the years. And that's very welcome, because there's a huge amount of know-how and knowledge there among our local authorities and within their specific groupings as well. And you mentioned as well that one of the pieces of research that would be undertaken would be in regard to the economy and regional development. Coming from the Cavan-Monahan area and being very conscious that the central border area is the border that will suffer most from Brexit, I think there has to be a huge emphasis not just on research into the regional economy, but ensuring that we put the investment into those particular areas that's needed. Let's face the fact Dublin-Belfast corridor will look after itself, no matter what the economic circumstances are on this island. If there are blips and if there are downturns, cities of that importance will always survive and generally thrive as well. So we need to have a particular emphasis on investment in the least developed areas and particularly the areas that have suffered most over the years. So I sincerely hope that that would be taken into account when you're deciding on investment. You also mentioned that one of the pieces of research that will undertake will be in the area of education. And I have spoken previously, it has always been a source of regret to me that there hasn't been a greater development of cooperation on an all Ireland basis in relation to education provision, particularly at further and higher education level. And as we know, that was one of the areas identified in the Good Friday Agreement for further close cooperation was the whole area of education. We are having a creation of, as you know, of the technological universities in this state, and I'm sure that will bring benefits to many areas. We had the president, Mr. Hannigan from Letterkenny Institute of Technology and his counterpart from University of Ulster-McGee College in particular, and they gave us an outline of the great cooperation that exists in between those two colleges and the Northwest in particular. I would like to see some initiatives that would grow cooperation in education and further and higher education in the northeast of our country. Thinking of the Cavan, Munn and Lowth, Meath area in particular, where we have an Institute of Technology. And I would like to see much greater cooperation and provision of education services in an all Ireland context. As we know, we don't have near enough students from Northern Ireland attending college in this state or students from this state attending college in Northern Ireland. And anything that could grow that particular participation would be very welcome. So could I ask Angela and Owen, if there are any ideas being considered in regard to an educational initiative, be it a particular development of a capital nature, or be it the collaboration being intensified on an all Ireland basis, that would be particularly beneficial to the border communities that I have referred to already. Because I see when the education and architecture is being changed in this state, we should not confine ourselves at the border. I believe that we need that cooperation on an all Ireland basis in further and higher education in particular. And I think it would be a great message to send out that the shared island initiative was the catalyst for further development, collaboration and progress in that area. Thank you, Cahirleek. Thank you.