Cabinet Committees
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-12
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

On Deputy Cleere's question, more work has been done on understanding the differences between North and South in the last four years than was done in the previous 100 years. We have invested hugely in research on all aspects of education and health and the differences between the health systems in the North vis-à-vis the Republic, and school completion rates in the North vis-à-vis school completion rates here. The ESRI has done a lot of good studies around primary care in the North versus primary care in the Republic.
We have funded research projects between universities. We are now looking at the first potential all-island university, involving Queen's University and Dundalk. This is being funded through the shared island initiative. This has probably been one of the more radical and impactful initiatives the Government has ever undertaken in the context of North-South relations. It has been broadly welcomed and well received across all communities. The research piece is working well. The Narrow Water bridge project will hopefully be completed in late 2027. We are going to go the whole way and complete the Ulster Canal project . It is about enhancing connectivity. We have an all-island musical archive for music from different traditions.
On biodiversity, we have an all-island network and another on climate and so on. Am I out of time?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-12