Ireland of Equals Sinn Féin -- Building an Ireland of Equals

Expansion of the GFA - New Implementation bodies

Appendix 7: The creation of new All-Ireland Implementation Bodies.

(1 & 2) All-Ireland Policing and Justice Implementation Bodies

In line with the Good Friday Agreement and in the context of the full and faithful implementation of the Patten recommendations, Sinn Fein wishes to see the early transfer of powers on policing and justice to the Assembly and the All Ireland Ministerial Council.

This requires:

Transfer of powers in the areas of policing and justice to the Northern Assembly and Executive;

Comprehensive North-South arrangements in relation to policing and justice consequential upon transfer;

Judicial transformation; and

An end to repressive legislation.

Both the Good Friday Agreement and the NI Act 1998 envisaged the transfer of powers on policing and criminal justice matters. This process was also envisaged both in the Patten Report and in the Criminal Justice Review. This matter should now be addressed. All relevant reserved and excepted matters relating to policing and criminal justice should be transferred.

All-Ireland Dimension

Transfer of powers on justice and policing must be accompanied by all-Ireland institutional architecture under the aegis of the All-Ireland Ministerial Council.

The imperative in relation to justice and policing issues, then, becomes "to develop [in the AIMC] consultation, co-operation and action on an all-island and cross border basis…"

This should be developed through the creation of two separate implementation bodies in relation to justice and policing.

The remits of the two All-Ireland Implementation Bodies should include, among other functions:

Co-operation between accountability mechanisms;

Development of Judicial Services Commission, the all-Ireland Constitutional Court, Law Reform Commission, and joint approaches by the Judicial Appointments Commission in the north and the Judicial Appointments Board in the south;

Joint studies on restorative justice;

Harmonisation of accreditation in the legal profession;

Harmonisation of terms and conditions of service in matters of justice and policing;

Development of an all-Ireland police training college;

Co-operation on matters of public order policing;

Compilation of an all-Ireland sex offenders register and harmonisation of criminal Investigation procedures and sentencing for sex offenders;

Joint studies on drug misuse and unified action on an all-Ireland basis to prevent, detect and prosecute drug-dealers.

Progressive harmonisation of both Irish systems of law.

Following on from the transfer of functions in the justice field, the AIMC should also bring forward proposals to enable judges from either jurisdiction on the island to function in the other.

Proposals should also be brought forward under the aegis of the AIMC for the harmonisation of mechanisms for dealing with judicial misbehaviour or wrongdoing.

Judicial Transformation

The judiciary in any society can play a key role in defining the parameters of acceptable police behaviour. The north of Ireland has long been particularly deficient in this regard given the close connection between Unionism and the judiciary, and the identification of Unionism with the RUC. The goal in this sphere must be the transformation of the northern judiciary from its present partisan position to one in which it is representative of this society in terms of political background, religion, gender and class.

Constitutional Court

The single most effective step that could be taken in this regard would be the creation of a new Constitutional Court for Ireland. This court should provide the final adjudication at national level on all constitutional and human rights questions. Its membership should be drawn from new appointees to the bench from the legal professions, from legal academics with expertise in the area, as well as from the ranks of the existing judiciary. A precursor should be the creation of a Constitutional Court for the north of Ireland, which would include judges from the south.

The constitutional court's functions should include:

Dealing with human rights issues arising from the bill of rights in the north and equivalent 26

County issues on appeal from lower courts,

The interpretation of matters relating to the implementation of the GFA on an all-island basis,

Consideration of the impact of international human rights instruments.

Repressive Legislation

Repressive legislation must be abolished. The relevant legislation is now the Terrorism Act 2000 (Part 5) which has unified the NI (Emergency Provisions) Acts and Prevention of Terrorism Acts into a composite piece of legislation.

The repeal of that part of the Terrorism Act 2000 (i.e. Part 5) relating to the 6 counties is required.

Other Issues

A number of other issues should be addressed. These include:

Legislation governing inquests,

The standards governing the use of lethal force,

Freedom of information,

The eradication of "criminal convictions" obtained under emergency legislation.

Civil Service

The final area to be considered in the context of transfer of justice and policing powers concerns those who will administer, advise and implement these most sensitive areas of authority.

All representatives of the British intelligence services should be withdrawn from the civil service committees and from the civil service as a whole.

A reform package should be put in place calculated to maximise rotation of posts as between those civil service units with responsibility in the areas of justice and policing and other units/departments.

Arrangements to ensure community and gender balance at all levels of these important administrative sections are essential. As the Patten report pointed out, there is a pressing need to ensure that the composition of civil service units in the area of policing - but it applies also to justice - are broadly reflective of the political, religious and gender make-up of society.

(3) An All-Ireland Implementation Body for an Social Economy Agency and Forum.

Communities suffering from acute deprivation often suffer from weak community infrastructure, compounded by governmental neglect resulting in further disempowerment. The Social economy offers such communities an opportunity to improve their standing, and to play a proactive role in delivering meaningful projects. In parts of Ireland where the sector is well developed, this can be seen as a result of the availability and concentration of state and EU support for community-lead projects, vital in regions, which would not attract significant private sector investment.

The social sector has significant potential, given that it already contributes approximately 7% of employment north and south, in a wide variety of areas such as childcare, community and social housing associations, community water schemes, credit unions and cultural activities, along with involvement in cooperatives and enterprise schemes.

For the sector to grow, to promote community empowerment, the state must reach out to these communities, disadvantaged by deprivation or the conflict. EU funding programmes have recognized this need, but this aid must be continued after the end of this funding period, to build on the progress achieved so far.

Sinn Féin believes that this necessitates the creation of an all-Ireland body to provide this continuity of support and promotion to the social economy sector. Such a body would directly encourage and support greater community ownership.

Sinn Féin wishes to see the development of an all-Ireland Social Economy Agency and Forum, under the direction of the All Ireland Ministerial Council.

The functions of such an Agency would include:

To promote the Social Economy sector locally and nationally, and to lobby for its inclusion in all national and regional strategies.

To provide continuity of support, following the reduction in funding available from the present SEUPB implementation body. The Agency would then administer a Social Economy Fund, with funding for this ring-fenced by the two governments, to sustain local community development projects across the island.

To have a role in implementing all-Ireland sectoral strategies, which would support environmentally sustainable energy sources, rural and community enterprise projects, small scale manufacturing companies and other social economy projects.

locally and nationally, and to lobby for its inclusion in all national and regional strategies.

The fund would therefore transform and strengthen the Social Economy sector, mainstreaming support for local projects, and assist communities, which have encountered disadvantage in improving via state support.

The All-Ireland Social Economy Strategy needed would be produced through a Social Economy Forum, comprising all social partners, and in particular it would deal with the existing cross-border Corridor Groups, to ensure that the social economy is strengthened in those specific areas.

(4) An All-Ireland Energy Implementation Body.

This body would have a remit including the determination of an all-Ireland energy strategy, and the overseeing of its development. As such, it must be given powers to compel DETI and the Department of Public Enterprise to adopt policies that are grounded in all-island thinking.

The context for this includes the following elements -

Our work in the north within DETI has highlighted the deeply unsatisfactory nature of the electricity privatisation deal agreed by the British government in 1994, which established a private sector monopoly in place of public sector delivery. NIE has seen its dividend per share rise, while investment has been reduced, and standards have fallen.

In the south, the probability that the present government will push forward plans for the part-privatisation of and liberalization of the ESB, which Sinn Féin would oppose in a way that would be consistent with EU law.

The presence of a growing independent and community-based electricity generating capacity, often based on environmentally friendly technology and involving direct benefit to local communities.

The increasing importance of the north-south connection, as ESB liberalization may work to displace NIE in the northern market.

Competition from the proposed connector with Scotland, although this source may be 'contaminated' by association with British Nuclear Generation.

The need to move away from dependence on external oil supplies and embrace domestic and alternative energy forms.

The need to implement the EU Energy Levy on an all-island basis, a surcharge that is refundable to energy generators where renewable sources are used.

The need to manage natural resources to the benefit of local communities and the Irish economy, for example the gas suppliers discovered in Leitrim, Corrib and Fermanagh.

The need to address fuel poverty, affecting 'at risk' and low-income groups in society.

Sinn Féin promotes the following Energy Model:

A nationally owned distributive network, under control of the Body.

The support of an all-Ireland energy market, possibly including elements of NIE, ESB and independent generating companies.

The support of community-owned environmentally sustainable generating companies, such as wind turbines. For this, a fund could be established, to be administered by the proposed Social Economy Implementation body (see below).

The renegotiation of the current NIE contract when it expires in 2007.

, under control of the Body.

In the long term, Sinn Féin would be looking at the potential for establishing a state-owned supplier, to co-operate with the independent suppliers sector, a move that would not require renegotiation of the EU Directive on Energy Liberalization.

The role of the new Energy Implementation Body would include:

Overseeing the development of an all-Ireland energy market on a state owned distributional infrastructure, reviewing the terms and prices under which energy is distributed north and south.

Overseeing the adequacy of the distributional infrastructure in the West, both north and south.

To ensure the growth in indigenous energy supply to meet future demand, and avoid reliance on overseas supply generated by nuclear- and waste-fuelled sources.

To produce a strategic plan for renewable energy forms, allowing all Ireland to comply with the Kyoto protocol.

To promote the development of alternative energy sources, such as biomass, wind, wave and solar power.

To develop a meaningful anti-Fuel Poverty programme.

To promote energy-efficient housing and building design and saving measures.

The role of this new Body would thus be progressive, achieving lower energy costs in the context of an all-island energy market. This would help business efficiency through reduced overheads, and would help attract new businesses to areas like the West of Ireland, where improved energy infrastructure would enhance the attraction of such locations to new investors.

(5) An All Ireland Implementation Body for Mental Health

Historically Mental Health service provision in Ireland, North and South, has been a story of criminal neglect of some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

Report after report in the South, throughout the 80s and 90s, attested to grossly inadequate Psychiatric care, with treatment limited to drug therapy, (often without any regard to diagnosis); scarcity of acute beds; absence of therapy, or even basic safety equipment which allowed patients to move around; Victorian facilities; quite unacceptable living conditions, and the absence of provision for community care. Reports revealed, year after year, that citizens were and continued to be, deprived of their liberty, often without elementary inquiry into the justifiability of such deprivation.

Wards were filled with long stay patients - staying because there was no state provision of supports available to them living outside of mental hospital. At the same time, wards were grossly overcrowded, and there was no treatment available or access to care for many sufferers, especially for homeless people, over half of whom, either by cause or effect, are estimated to have severe mental health problems.

The absence of secure accommodation in the North for people sentenced by the courts, and reliance on facilities in Scotland, so many miles away from their own communities, is a continuing scandal. Equally the absence of care facilities for the 'seriously disturbed' juveniles, has been an on going saga of abuse of these children's human rights, since 1997 when the issue first came to attention through the courts.

There is an absolute requirement, North and South that remedial action is taken to deal with this situation on an all-Ireland basis. Sinn Fein proposes that a New Implementation Body be set up as a matter of urgency, to deal with this appalling situation, which neither health department on its own has succeeded in addressing. Action is long overdue.

The remit of this new Implementation Body should include:

The development of an all-Ireland Mental Health Institute, the functions of which should be modelled on the currently existing all-Ireland Public Health Institute.

The development of strategies that involve practical co-operation on mental health, both in terms of care and health promotion. Particularly, we believe there is scope for development through the expansion of work currently being done under the auspices of CAWT.

We believe there is considerable potential for co-operation in the field of forensic psychiatry. In the 6 counties there is currently no appropriate secure accommodation and the system of relying on Scottish facilities is neither efficient nor humane. Facilities in the 26 counties, while existent, are far from satisfactory.

We propose that an evaluative study should be carried out to establish the feasibility of developing new-build accommodation that will serve the whole of the island.

We propose that an independent expert enquiry be carried out to identify those areas of postgraduate research and specialist training would be more efficiently and cost-effectively be carried out on an all-Ireland basis, perhaps through the medium of the Mental Health Institute.

Structures should be developed between the Departments to ensure the joint development of common policy for the area of mental health. This should include the harmonisation of legislation, protocols etc.

A new All Ireland Implementation Body to deal with Mental Health across the country would constitute one of the most progressive and important achievements of the new All Ireland Institutions.

(6) An All Ireland Implementation Body for Rural Development

Disparities between regions across Ireland are severe, and likely to be intensified in the absence of an all Ireland agricultural policy that looks to protect the Irish agricultural industry.

A prerequisite of all agricultural and rural development is participatory rural community planning - social infrastructure - which both engages local communities in addressing their social economic problems, and provides satisfactory consultative, non-directive channel of communication with research and development, farm advice, planning and social economy bodies. We can safety say that no rural development plans will come to fruition without this infrastructure of community engagement being in place.

Sinn Fein proposes a new Implementation Body to address this core area of development of rural and social infrastructure. Its dual mandate is to:

§ Progress greater equality between the regions of all of Ireland, and

§ To co-ordinate, resource and build the social infrastructure which is necessary for the development of agriculture in Ireland.

The work of this Implementation body becomes yet more central in the context of the forthcoming changes in the EU CAP in decoupling and modulation. If these changes are to benefit Irish farmers, and reverse the trend of farmers on small to middle sized holdings leaving farming altogether, it will be because of the successful work of this All Ireland Implementation Body.

Already in the Border counties there is a close relationship between the Department of Agri-food Development Service (AFDS), Teagasc and 26 County Agricultural Officers, with a range of Cross Border projects under discussion and in place. This work, formalised in the remit of the one Implementation Body, needs extended throughout the 32 counties, to provide excellent farm advice services to spearhead the development of social capital and infrastructure, to take up the opportunities for smaller farmers and rural communities. These opportunities include:

Exploitation of Niche Markets

Recent reports point to extraordinary success in food processing in niche markets by small business enterprises. These successful results show the potential for the development of food processing sector. Food processing sector offers opportunities for small downstream farm development and off-farm income. The successes in this sector in the 26 counties need to be extended across the 32 counties, and supported with technical advice and grant aid where necessary, to achieve self sustainability.

Developing Organic Farming

Equally in the field of organic farming both governments have been derelict in exploiting the 'clean green' image that Irish agriculture offers in exploiting this expanding and high value-added market. We need an all Ireland body that can take up this challenge, with the infrastructure in place, to co-ordinate the supplies of organic inputs, and outputs to obviate the current existing blockages.

This potential niche market for Irish agriculture will vanish before our eyes unless there is a national central agency working at the micro level through consultation to foster and promote it and iron out input-output inconsistencies. What a lost opportunity this would be, especially in conditions where set-aside EU policies, and 'dole' dependency, are fast becoming the only viable options for small farmers in BMW regions? This, in a world of hunger, is an obscenity.

Community Co-operative Marketing Agreements:

Within this market structure, where the interests of consumers as well as the interests of suppliers (farmers) need protected, there is immense scope for local community organised co-operative marketing arrangements. These innovatory schemes can only be implemented with the support and advice of statutory agency/social infrastructure, which it would be the remit of this implementation body to establish. Where Irish farmers are priced out of the EU markets, small co-operative marketing, especially of organic foods, can maintain a viable agricultural sector.

Participatory rural Development

Agricultural development cannot be considered separately from rural development. For example, farmer co-ops for provision of wind power, co-ops for sharing of capital equipment, marketing co-ops, agricultural credit co-ops, rural community tourism schemes, agricultural processing to provide off-farm income and guaranteed market quotas for crops - none of these opportunities can be realised without the development of social capital in rural communities. To succeed, rural communities need to participate in the investment decisions, to take on development projects as a community, and together approach statutory agencies to provide the necessary transport, education and health provision locally, to enable their community to survive with the quality of life that people in contemporary Ireland expect and deserve.

Holistic development

Regional inequality means in reality a poor quality of life, an absence of social services and facilities which people expect in today's Ireland, and which they can find if they leave their communities for the cities. The decimation of rural Ireland, especially in the BMW Region is a trend which needs arrested.

There are pockets of dire poverty across Ireland. Many are in rural areas. Rural underdevelopment is a vicious circle of poor service provision leading to de-population leading to withdrawal of services, leading to further depopulation and economic disadvantage. This circle has to be broken. The principle of equality in the delivery of services across rural Ireland has to be delivered. In an Ireland of Equals there has to be common access to education, to health, to adequate housing, to transport, to social services, and facilities that enable enjoyment of some quality of life.

Rural communities struggling to preserve their economic well being and secure adequate service provision need one body to mediate between them and the multiplicity of statutory agencies and government departments, which have separate responsibilities for service provision, and a well attested capacity to pass the buck between each one and the next. Rural development needs integrated service provision. It must be a part of the remit of the Implementation body for rural development to facilitate communities to deal with this multiplicity of agencies to secure delivery of services.

Summary

The Implementation Body for rural development will act to:

§ Build social infrastructure and promote the engagement of local communities in addressing their social economic disadvantage, and

§ Provide a channel of communication with research and development, farm advice, planning and social economy bodies.

§ Act as mediator between communities and service providers to ensure the delivery of essential services to rural communities

(7). Implementation Body for Pollution Control

Dealing with the severe environmental problems in Ireland offers huge economic opportunities.

There can be no doubt that implementation of a policy of zero waste presents opportunities for small-scale community-led waste collection and recycling, with considerable potential for downstream manufacturing. Local collection of recyclables, composting of kitchen waste, which is at low capital cost, is of immense social value, and brings with it huge community gain in the form of employment, greater social responsibility for the protection of our environment, and produces a valuable end product (organic compost) at low cost for the benefit of farmers and householders alike. The huge costs (and resultant anti-recycling pressures) of massive, 'white elephant', incinerators the costs of which will fall on householders through ever increasing waste charges, are avoided. There is therefore an urgent requirement to establish a technological advisory service to develop, through outreach into local communities, such small-scale social economy, community-led, enterprises. This will bring the latest recycling technologies and methods into the smallest communities and villages. It is a pre-requisite of achieving a zero waste strategy, and providing efficient delivery of what is a necessary service for the people in this country.

Many innovatory but isolated projects across the 32 counties have trail-blazed the way forward for every community, big or small, to develop local collection services, of separated waste, including toxic materials, which obviates the present reliance on individuals to transport their own recyclables and waste materials to banks, often several miles from them. This is a policy doomed to inefficiencies and failure, and fails to take up the wide opportunities for the development of local community cost efficient, self-sustaining enterprise, which benefits all the people.

A body is also an urgent necessity to forestall the further pollution, waste and destruction of our environment continuing as it has done under the two existing local administrations, which, for distinct reasons, have not pursued the two key environmental principles, but instead have made Ireland the laggard of Europe on protecting our environment. Such a body would offer an opportunity to challenge the mainstream consensus that the environment is something business and industry needs to be protected from, instead of something, which offers significant economic development potential.

Pollution by industry cannot be left to the good intent of companies to manage safety standards for their own emissions and waste control. There is a need for positive collaboration between a central monitoring facility in which appreciates the most advanced technology on pollution controls, and a company management, which is concerned to reduce its wastage and costs and avoid future heavy fines for pollution. This development, which is key to calling a halt to the reckless un-monitored pollution of the environment by industry, requires an advisory staff which can help deal with each enterprise, company by company.

There is the need to establish an all-Ireland chemical and biological monitoring facility, which will bring this country to the forefront of scientific research on pollution and methods of control, and enable effective monitoring of the standards imposed on each company, their emissions, and their usage of raw materials.

There is also the clear need for All-Ireland representation at the EU level so that we can play a meaningful role in the negotiation of environmental controls across the EU. Pollution in Western Europe, especially the sea, (e.g. with nuclear waste), is a matter where Ireland as a whole needs to have a clearly articulated voice and representation.

Equally, there is a need for the environmental sector to be represented to government here, to enable the two administrations to bring requisite legislation into line so that, for example, premium prices can be offered fairly across the whole country for energy produced from renewable sources, or there can be common legislation to deal with, for example, waste farm plastics, or taxing plastic bags, as has been introduced in the 26 Counties, but which are not at present within the powers of the 6 county administration. It is equally important that fines arising from breeches of environmental controls be standardised across the island, so that one part of the island does not become the pollution dump for another part of the country. An All-Ireland body should ensure that companies choosing to pour hazardous or polluting effluent into rivers are fined equally, whether they do this in Derry or in Wexford. No other environmental policy makes sense.

There are exciting developments, at the very forefront of technological development, particularly in the field of environmentally friendly substitutes for petrol and oil. For example recent developments in the field of bio-gas, alcohol based fuels, bio-diesel produced from waste vegetable oil, or development in the recycling of PET bottles, or the recycling of light plastics into heavy duty plastic containers, are being developed. A body is needed to play a lead role in these developments, specific to Ireland's needs, and to co-ordinate the most advanced technological development in recycling into the Irish production methods.

Remit of an All-Ireland Environmental Implementation Body

In summary, the remit of this proposed implementation body needs to be extensive. It should be a body which:

Negotiates with local administration environmental controls and conditions, and can promote

an all Ireland legislative framework, which enables all Ireland controls, (including incentives

and fines) to be imposed on a common basis across the island.

Represents all Ireland interests at EU and global level on environmental issues and concerns.

all Ireland interests at EU and global level on environmental issues and concerns.

Develops an all Ireland monitoring and pollution control facility, with one state of the art

scientific testing and research agency.

Provides a technologically skilled advisory service to each company and enterprise, area by

area, to agree environmental conditions on waste, effluent, air emissions, best use of raw

materials and other resources, so that the Polluter Pays principle can be established and

enforced in all business enterprise, and waste of scarce resources minimised.

A body which has the power to address environmental protection issues in planning decisions

in both urban and rural areas, to ensure that Government and business interests cannot over-

ride environmental concerns of local people.

A community advisory service which researches and promotes, in local communities, state-

of-the-art technology in recycling and in developing markets for recyclates, and promotes, within each community, self sustaining, social economy, community run enterprise, for waste collection and recycling, which does not rely on individuals' willingness to transport recyclables themselves to environmental collection banks.

With the most advanced scientific methods, it is widely agreed that there is need, across the

country, for a facility, which can dispose of indestructible toxic materials, for example hospital waste, radioactive materials and so forth. The facility needs to be strictly controlled, its emissions monitored, not run-for-profit, and serve the needs of all-Ireland. The All-Ireland implementation body would enable this facility, drawing on best practice and standards across Europe and America.

A body which can co-ordinate work with other Implementation bodies particularly in

Agricultural, Food safety, Energy, Waterways, Health, Social Economy Agency, Tourism, to ensure no duplication and maximum coordination in the provision of research and community advisory and technical services.

with local administration environmental controls and conditions, and can promote all Ireland interests at EU and global level on environmental issues and concerns.

Summary

An all-Ireland Environment Implementation body would represent a major step forward into this century, for the economy, the environment and for the quality of the lives of all the people of this island. This should build on the foundations laid by AIMC cooperation, to become a representative, negotiating body, including a technical and community advisory service to promote and co-ordinate of Zero Waste and polluter-pays principles through our whole community in a meaningful way. This should aim to protect our environment and our image, so important to our economy, of a 'clean and green' island.

The all Ireland implementation body proposed here, would provide a powerful counterweight to established policies and influences, and put centre stage a community-based, social economy sustainable enterprise alternative, with all the accompanying gain to the community, farming and tourism sectors of the economy.

(8). Implementation body for Further and Higher Education (FHE)

Education and training is an entitlement for everyone, irrespective of age, gender, marital status, ability or class.

Sinn Fein's vision of a society of life long learning, facilitated through learning neighbourhoods, of a society of equal access and opportunity in Further and Higher education will remain but an aspiration in the absence of an all Ireland body to make this vision a reality.

An Implementation Body for Further and Higher Education, to set in train work to further learning neighbourhoods and promote equality of access to further education is called for.

Learning Neighbourhoods

A learning neighbourhood is a local virtual network of places of learning including schools, third level institutions, youth service, training centres, community education projects and libraries. Learning neighbourhoods aim to:

Make life long learning available to all to meet individual, community and economic needs,

Access education for everyone and remove barriers to education of the most disadvantaged groups with specific needs

Promote inter-culturalism and a culture of social inclusion, co-operation and creativity.

People's University Partnerships

Third level institutions in the six and twenty-Six Counties and particularly in border areas have developed ad hoc networks of accredited community based outreach programmes. Sinn Fein is committed to building on these developments across the 32 counties to develop neighbourhood-based People's University Partnerships. These partnerships are a core part of Learning Neighbourhoods, which need to extend across the country, if equal access to FHE is to become a reality.

A People's University Partnership is a partnership between local community education providers (FHEIs, Institutes of Technology, community centres, networks) and the university. The purpose of the partnership is to develop outreach programmes and courses accredited by the universities. This means open access to people and areas that are presently, and have been previously, almost entirely excluded from the benefits of third level education.

The work of the FHE Implementation body is to promote and extend these learning neighbourhoods and People's University partnerships.

In the short run the work of the implementation body is to secure a significant increase in the number of students in FHE. This is especially important in respect of those part-time and adult students and other groups, including people with disability, who have been traditionally under-represented in FHE.

This work requires a rigorous and ongoing evaluation of how present entry requirements facilitate or limit access by groups currently under-represented.

Links between learning neighbourhoods and local business need established to enable workers to enjoy access to life long learning, as well as retraining or up-skilling, so that the work force in Ireland is kept abreast of changing technologies and skills.

Libraries

Public Libraries across the country are a key part of the development of learning neighbourhoods and already there has been close co-operation between the Committee on Library Co-operation in Ireland (COLICO) and the committee of National and Regional Library Services. Amongst many areas of co-operation across the 32 counties, which are under discussion, is web based sharing of research and resources. QUB with other Northern partners have received funding to create an electronic resource, and links between Trinity College, Dublin and the University of Northern Ireland have been established to improve access to scholarly research material as an electronic resource.

Summary

The new implementation body for Further and Higher Education would have within its remit:

§ The promotion of learning neighbourhoods across the 32 counties

§ Promoting equality of access to FHE and inclusion of previously excluded groups and classes

§ The monitoring of facilities and entry requirements to ensure equality of access to further and Higher education, and standardisation across the country of qualification requirements and accreditation.

§ Promote co-operation between library facilities and shared electronic resources.

(9). Implementation Body for Telecommunications - Developing the knowledge industry.

Infrastructure is the key to economic success in the future. Access to transport and telecommunications infrastructures are vital for the supply of skilled workers needed to build business.

In modern economies, new jobs in communications, computer technologies and financial services are not dependent on geographical location - what matters is access to resources and infrastructure, as well as education, transport and energy.

An All-Ireland telecommunications body would be involved in planning and constructing an island-wide enhanced broadband cable infrastructure, and would have a role setting standards on access and regulation for all service providers, as well as long-term strategic planning, something which current service providers are unwilling to do.

A Telecommunication Implementation body would also:

Help to ensure an end to the piecemeal delivery of Information and Communications

Technology (ICT);

Oversee the development of an island-wide phone network, where the current farce of

charging international rates for local cross-border calls would end;

3. Plan and co-ordinate the replacement of the existing copper fixed line phone networks

on the island; and,

Ensure that the principal of universal access is delivered.

Politically, the creation of an Implementation Body in Telecommunications, as well as in the other areas identified, would ensure that the remit and work of the AIMC is conducted. This would prevent the situation that has arisen, in for example the case of roads, by the presence of a DUP minister in any of the relevant departments, who, in the case of transport, has purposely avoided granting significant expenditure for cross-border arterial routes.