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DÁIL ÉIREANN AN COMHCHOISTE UM FEIDHMIÚ CHOMHAONTÚ AOINE AN CHÉASTA JOINT COMMITTEE ON THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT Déardaoin, 12 Samhain 2020 Thursday, 12 November 2020 Tháinig an Comhchoiste le chéile ag 2 p.m. The Joint Committee met at 2 p.m. Comhaltaí a bhí i láthair / Members present: Teachtaí Dála / Deputies Seanadóirí / Senators Rose Conway-Walsh, Frances Black, Patrick Costello, Niall Blaney, James Lawless, Gerard P. Craughwell, Pádraig Mac Lochlainn, Emer Currie, Brendan Smith, Annie Hoey, Peadar Tóibín. John McGahon, Niall Ó Donnghaile. I láthair / In attendance: Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív. Teachta / Deputy Fergus O’Dowd sa Chathaoir / in the Chair. 1 JIGFA The joint committee met in private session until 2.06 p.m. Business of Joint Committee Chairman: Are the minutes of the 29 October meeting agreed? Agreed. I shall now turn to items of correspondence. There are items from members in respect of the work schedule. Senator Currie would like to make a point. Senator Emer Currie: On the revision of the work plan, I see that one of the titles has been removed, namely, the reconciliation legacy issues and dealing with the past. I feel this needs to be a headline within the work plan for the issues such as the Stormont House Agreement. It is a sensitive year. Reconciliation is an ongoing priority for all of us and it should be a cause in its own right. Chairman: We must move to the next item as the witnesses are now online. Senator Currie will be first in the discussion afterwards on this issue. Senator Emer Currie: Is that on the work plan? Chairman: Yes. If that is okay. I am just trying to use our time, as we are limited to two hours with no movement or choice in that. Shared Island Unit: Department of the Taoiseach Chairman: I welcome the representatives from the shared island unit at the Department of the Taoiseach, Aingeal O’Donoghue, assistant secretary, and Eoghan Duffy, principal officer. I met with Aingeal in Washington some years ago. Ms Aingeal O’Donoghue: Yes, that was a long time ago. Chairman: We went to Gettysburg to see the site of the battle. I welcome our guests. The shared island unit is extremely important. I appreciate that the representatives can be with us for one and a half hours, and I understand that they will also be more than happy to come in whenever the committee requests and at the appropriate time. Witnesses who are physically present or who give evidence from within the Parliament pre- cincts are protected pursuant to the constitutional statute by absolute privilege, but witnesses and participants who are to give evidence from a location outside the Parliament precincts are asked to note that they may not benefit from the same level of immunity from legal proceed- ings as a witness giving evidence from within the Parliament precincts, and may consider it appropriate to take legal advice on this matter. They have time to go off and see their solici- tor. Witnesses are also asked to note that only evidence connected with the subject matter of the proceedings should be given. They should respect directions given by the Chair and the parliamentary practice to the effect that, where possible, they should neither criticise nor make charges against any person, persons or entity by name or in such a way as to make him or her identifiable, or otherwise engage in speech that might be regarded as damaging to the good 2 12 NOVEMBER 2020 name of the person or entity. That is what I have to read at the start of each meeting. I welcome the representatives of the shared island unit. It is a very positive initiative that has been taken by the Taoiseach and the Government. I wish to make clear that the offer to the Taoiseach to attend stands at all times. If and when he wishes to attend, we will be more than happy to have him. I welcome the witnesses at this very important juncture. I invite Ms O’Donoghue to make her opening statement. Ms Aingeal O’Donoghue: My colleague and I welcome the opportunity to brief the com- mittee. I have responsibility at assistant secretary level in the Department of the Taoiseach for the shared island unit and, indeed, for the broader British-Irish and Northern Ireland affairs division. I am joined by Mr. Eoghan Duffy, principal officer in the unit. I will make our open- ing statement but both Mr. Duffy and I will be available to answer any questions members may have. As the committee is aware, the programme for Government sets out the Government’s com- mitment to working with all communities and traditions on the island to build consensus around a shared future underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement. In a major address at Dublin Castle on 22 October, the Taoiseach set out the Government’s vision and priorities for a shared island. More than 800 invited guests from Ireland, North and South, as well as from Britain, joined the online event. I know that several members of the committee were able to attend the event virtually. As the Taoiseach outlined in that address, the Government’s approach to a shared island involves working in partnership with the Executive, through the North-South Ministe- rial Council, and with the British Government to address the strategic challenges faced on the island, further developing the all-island economy, an enhanced connectivity and deepening co-operation in areas such as health and education and investing in the north-west and border regions. It also involves fostering constructive and inclusive dialogue, as well as developing a comprehensive programme of research to support the building of consensus around a shared future. The Taoiseach outlined that the shared island agenda is a whole-of-government priority. The shared island unit of the Department of the Taoiseach does a significant amount of work co-ordinating and driving this work and agenda. The work of the unit and the whole shared island agenda are underpinned by the principles of the Good Friday Agreement. We operate in close co-operation with the ongoing and extensive Northern Ireland-related work across the Government, including with the Department of Foreign Affairs, as well as through the North- South Ministerial Council, the British-Irish Council and the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference. We are still in the early days. The unit started its work at the beginning of Sep- tember, when Mr. Duffy and I came on board. We now have two additional staff members and plans are well advanced for a further two or three posts. Operationally, the current focus of the unit’s work is on three areas: commissioning re- search, fostering dialogue and building a shared island agenda, including through delivery of the commitments in the programme for Government. I will briefly set out our work under each of these three areas. Building a shared island agenda involves the promotion of all-island ap- proaches to the strategic challenges facing Ireland, North and South. Delivering on the commit- ments in the programme for Government is a key focus. Importantly, many of the programme for Government commitments are reflected in the Irish Government commitments under the New Decade, New Approach agreement. The committee will be aware that in budget 2021, the Government announced the shared 3 JIGFA island fund, with €500 million to be made available over the period to 2025 and ring-fenced for shared island projects. As the Taoiseach set out in the Dáil, the shared island fund provides sig- nificant new multi-annual capital funding for investment in collaborative North-South projects. The funding will support the delivery of key cross-border infrastructure initiatives as set out in the programme for Government. We hope it will also support new Government investment in all-island initiatives in areas such as research, health, education and the environment, as well as addressing the particular challenges of the north-west and border communities. In all these ar- eas, there are already several commitments in the programme for Government. The Taoiseach has emphasised the importance of moving ahead with cross-border investment commitments, working closely with the Northern Ireland Executive to ensure delivery. This was discussed at the North-South Ministerial Council plenary meeting in Dublin on 31 July. An update on progress will be provided to the next plenary meeting of the council, to be held in December. On research, given the scale and potential impact of the work on the shared island initia- tive across all sectors and communities, it is essential to support a wide-ranging programme of research to provide high-quality and evidence-based policy analysis. This in turn will support consideration both in the Government and in broader public discourse on building a shared island and a consensus around a shared future. The shared island unit is finalising a research partnership with the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI. There will also be a North- South and east-west collaborative element to this research work. The National Economic and Social Council, NESC, has been asked to prepare a comprehensive report on shared island issues in 2021. This will provide valuable input from economic, social and environmental partners. There will be scope for collaboration with academia and other experts on the island or from Britain, as well as potentially drawing on wider international expertise. In developing all of this, we are and will be working closely with other Departments in terms of their policy and research priorities. On dialogue and outreach, as I am sure members are aware, the Taoiseach launched the shared island dialogue series at Dublin Castle on 22 October to foster constructive and inclusive civic dialogue on all aspects of a shared future on the island.