Brendan Smith urges Shared Island focus on local authorities

First of all, I want to welcome again our witnesses, Angle and Oorn, and like you, I love the work of the Shared Island Unit, and I've had the opportunity to engage with other officials other than Angle and Oorn, and I know that they've been very receptive to other ideas that I put forward and that other people put forward as well, and I'm very glad that there's a buy-in now throughout all of our island into the Shared Island concept. It was met with cynicism in some areas when the Taoiseach initially announced it, and I think there's good buy-in now and a welcome buy-in throughout the island. Could I just say I also welcome the substantial chapter in the National Development Plan that Angle referred to with its overall commitment of 3.5 billion for all Ireland investment, and I think the Taoiseach mentioned that the initial 500 million euro committed to the Shared Island project, that that would be double to a billion over the lifetime of the National Development Plan, and that's very important. And again, as the Coherlock said, it's important, and you said at Angle as well, that we have more intense political engagement, engagement with the unit as you drive forward your work. I think it was at the initial meeting that we adhere with yourselves that I was very strong on the need to engage with the local authority cross-border groups that represent local authorities on both sides of the border, and I know that there has been intense, intense collaboration, and I welcome that. But I think there's one thing that I would just caution on. We have to be mindful that it's the individual local authorities that have the statutory remit. These cross-border groupings don't have statutory functions. So I would emphasize, and I think it would be important that the Shared Island unit engage directly with individual local authorities as well, as well, because they can often be in a position to help to drive forward projects through their own funding resources, as well as collaborating with yourselves. So I think that they would be essential that there's good buy-in collaboration and intense work with them on an individual basis as well. Again, I would appeal, as I did at each of the engagements that we had, and in direct questions to Antishuk and Nadal as well, that a particular emphasis needs to be placed on the less developed parts of the border region. I'm thinking of my own area, I'm thinking of my own area, Cavan Monaghan, Fermanagh and South Tyrone. You take it, the Dublin-Belfast corridor will look after itself, no matter what particular economic challenges come. And we know that we won't have the major research centres and the third level education, we won't have that in a small village or town in West Cavanagh or North Monaghan or West Fermanagh either. So I would say that a particular emphasis needs to be placed on the economic and social needs of the less developed regions. You mentioned, and I quote Angle, enhancing support for enterprise on an all island basis. I very much welcome that particular development. That's new to my knowledge in your work. Now, over the years, when it was when it has been very difficult, particularly the year of the troubles to try to bring jobs to border regions, local authorities and community groups source funding to develop workspace to develop enterprise centres. And I have some instances in my own constituencies where companies start out as a one person operation. Some of them are international companies today. And were it not for the fact that workspace was provided to allow them to grow to 10 and 20 jobs, they wouldn't have been the success that they are. And I know that oftentimes there is funding at national level to develop enterprise centres that community groups or local authorities can source. But the big problem often is putting in place the site and servicing it to enable you to get to the stage where you can actually build the workspace. Now, local authorities like my own in Covenant Manning, they have a very small rate space. They get it hard to generate funding at local level, and they're trying to support other developments, be it town renewal, rural renewal, tourism developments. So I think there's there's a need there to support local authorities in making available suitable sites serviced to enable workspace to be developed. And enterprise centres to be developed that can lead to job creation. Because I think if there was any audit or analysis done of the success of our network of commute enterprise centres throughout the country. There's a great success record of the of how they have enabled the creation of employment, how they have facilitated small companies, as I said, to grow and to move out of that space and allow a new emerging company to take over. So I think that might be one new area that you conduct is supporting local authorities, community groups to put in place the service site to enable an enterprise workspace to be developed. One other thing that was mentioned as well is the further development of third level education infrastructure in the northwest. Again, I welcome that. But I would I would also like to have in the in your the remit of your work as well, the northeast. Because I know from my own from my own engagement with the Dark Institute of Technology over the years, it's a particularly important institute for education for persons from Loud, Monaghan, Cavan, and also from Armagh and down. So I know that ever before there was much collaboration and higher education on an all Ireland and north south basis. Dundalk Institute was collaborating with Queen's and with the University of Ulster in major projects. So I would like to see an emphasis on the northeast, particularly on Dundalk and the counties and the local authorities and the colleges of further education that it works with directly in Loud, Monaghan and Cavan as well. Could I also say that sentence you quote the further development of third level education. Again, I would say we have to include further education in that particular work. And again, we all know what is public representatives that in many, many instances to try to attract people from communities where there's a lot of disadvantage on that. It has been the further education colleges, progression through further education to higher education has come through the availability of places in further education. So I would place a particular emphasis and I hope it can be considered in the context of development of further education on a cross border and all Ireland basis as well. So thank you. Thank you.