Northern Ireland Economy

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman for his intervention. He is a very active member of the Select Committee. I entirely agree that the golf course is extremely important. It is a great investment and a great opportunity. I hope that Northern Ireland goes on to attract the Open Championship—not necessarily to that course, but to a course in Northern Ireland. It is important to move in that direction. I urge the Government to get behind the project. I know that it is a devolved matter, but there is great frustration with regard to the planning situation, as there probably is in most local authorities. There certainly is in mine, but it is particularly the case in Northern Ireland. In about two weeks' time, we shall publish our report on our inquiry into the smuggling of tobacco, alcohol and diesel. Obviously, I cannot go into detail at the moment, but I can reveal a couple of figures. Fuel fraud costs Northern Ireland £70 million and tobacco fraud costs £42 million, making a total of £112 million, which could be in the pockets of the health service or the education service. Indeed, it could help to reduce taxes in Northern Ireland. That is something that we are looking at. I cannot go into too much detail at the moment, but it is a real issue. Not only does smuggling cost the economy a lot of money, but it provides opportunities for paramilitaries, ex-paramilitaries and people who are up to no good to engage in activities that do the economy, Northern Ireland and the UK no good at all. On creating a genuinely shared future and reducing the cost of division, we have made huge progress—let us not forget that—but we need to do more. Yesterday, I read a report on the BBC website that claimed that when the agreement was signed, there were 22 peace walls, but there are now 48. Segregation of housing and education is not only divisive in an area that needs to end division; it is costly as well. We need to find an affordable way of dealing effectively with the past. I do not want to get into a debate about what the Secretary of State calls costly and open-ended inquiries. This is not the time or the place, but we have to find a way of dealing with the past effectively and more affordably. I turn to the corporation tax report that we produced. We spent a lot of time looking at corporation tax in Northern Ireland. To be fair to everybody concerned, I note that not every member of the Committee agreed with the proposals that were made. However, many members did agree.