Cross-border university in Derry suggested in Brandon Lewis legacy command paper

The suggestion is contained in a command paper published alongside Secretary of State Brandon Lewis' controversial proposal for a statute of limitations for all Troubles related killings.

Mr. Lewis's proposals for 'addressing the legacy of the past' include a new independent body to focus on the recovery and provision of information about Troubles-related deaths as well as an oral history project to allow people to tell their stories and share their experiences of the conflict.

Derry's potential as an cross-border educational centre is contained in a section of the command paper on 'oral history and memorialisation'.

Brandon Lewis proposes statute of limitations for all Troubles killings

"We are interested in the various possibilities for education to help reconciliation, through increasing integrated education, using technical and vocational education to improve educational outcomes for children across the community, and through improving Northern Ireland’s university provision," the paper states.

It adds that an example of this might be 'a cross border university situated in the North West'.

"This could symbolise the importance of North-South cooperation, representing an important step in achieving greater social cohesion and ensuring the North West receives the investment into social enterprises that it so richly deserves. Such an initiative could also help to address the longstanding issue of ‘brain drain’ in NI, add immediate value to NI’s economy by providing more skilled jobs, and attract research funding and the promotion of businesses, helping to level up the least prosperous sub region of NI," it adds.