Eoin Ryan
Question:144 Mr. E. Ryan asked the Minister for the Marine the progress, if any, made on an intergovernmental conference on the Irish Sea. [3280/96]
Written Answers. - Intergovernmental Conference.
A great deal of progress has already been made in preparation for the proposed Intergovernmental Conference of the Irish Sea.
Bilateral contacts have been made and joint action motivated in areas such as the quality status report on the Irish Sea under the auspices of the Oslo and Paris Conventions, monitoring and management of dump-sites, search and rescue, pollution response, marine research, fisheries conservation and ferry safety.
The Minister of State at the Department of the Marine, Deputy Gilmore, and I are assessing how these developments might best be progressed and, in that regard, the contribution which an intergovernmental conference might make. An announcement will be made in this regard in the near future.