Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The point then, from a political point of view, is that if all of the parties in Northern Ireland embraced this change, whether or not in a united Ireland, it would make a significant difference. It is the most realistic path for change because everybody's boat would be floating higher. The political system must focus on how to persuade people from various political backgrounds to consent to change. Changing the education system is obviously a job for the Northern Executive to make it more integrated and more available to everybody. There are different religious schools in the same town and resources are needed to keep all of these things going, as opposed to everybody going to the one school. There are many issues. It seems that if we could change the way people think in the North and the way they are educated, the economy would change and it would be far more productive.

One of the problems is that change is also not happening for people who do not believe in a united Ireland. In many ways they are part of the unchanging politics. If we can educate people and work towards getting much more progressive education policies, and if the Executive embraced this, it would make a big difference. The job of the witnesses is to argue the economics and our job is to take the economics and make the political system work with best practice. As somebody who has great respect for the witnesses and for Professor FitzGerald, I want to concentrate on the common themes. Then, where there is division of opinion, let the academics argue it out. We need more clarity on this, which is what the witnesses are bringing to the debate. If we are to have a future together education is the key.