Written Answers. - Northern Ireland Issues.
Emmet Stagg
Question:
35
Mr. Stagg
asked the
Minister for Finance
the proposals, if any, he has to promote economic co-operation between here and Northern Ireland having regard to the establishment of the Northern Executive and the North-South bodies; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[26894/99]
Minister for Finance (Mr. McCreevy): The completion of the arrangements on 2 December to bring into being the North-South Ministerial Council, NSMC, and other institutions under the Good Friday Agreement has provided us with the most appropriate framework and foundation for the promotion of co-operation, including economic, between both parts of the island. In particular, the six implementation bodies and the six areas for co-operation, operating under the NSMC, will focus on maximising co-operation in accordance with the Agreement to the mutual benefit of both jurisdictions. All of the areas will be of a direct or indirect economic benefit to our peoples.
The six implementation bodies have already started operating, albeit in some cases at reduced levels until their activities come up to full speed which in the main is expected to be in the first half of 2000. The bodies' functions are wide-ranging including trade and business development, inland waterways, aquaculture and marine matters, food safety and, of course, certain EU programmes. The six further areas of co-operation will be implemented through existing agencies North and South.
These areas, like the six implementation bodies which were contained in the agreed statement by the office of the First and Deputy First Ministers, Designate, on 18 December 1998, and reiterated in the joint communique issued following yesterday's inaugural NSMC plenary meeting, specifically include transport, agriculture, education, health, environment and tourism. Yesterday's communique agreed that the question of additional sectoral formats will be agreed by the NSMC meeting in institutional format. In the context of further areas of co-operation beyond the above to be agreed between the two administrations at the NSMC, it is acknowledged that the energy sector is one of the areas where the greatest mutual benefit to our island economy might accrue from co-operation between the two jurisdictions.
I will have responsibility, under the NSMC in its relevant sectoral format, at which I will be representing the Irish Government, for the Special EU Programmes Body, along with my Northern Ireland Executive counterpart, Mr. Mark Durkan MLA, the Minister for Finance and Personnel. As the Deputy will be aware, the Special EU Programmes Body has taken over many of the func tions in relation to the management and development of the two major EU cross-Border programmes, INTERREG and Peace, which up to now had been managed by the Department of Finance and Personnel and my Department. The body will also be responsible for drafting the new INTERREG and Peace programmes, together with the Leader and Equal Community initiatives, and will have a significant role to play in the implementation of INTERREG and Peace and the cross-Border elements of the new Leader and Equal programmes.
However, in my view the most important part of the EU body's remit is its role in relation to the common chapter which sets out the context of North-South co-operation within our respective development plans over the period of the next round of structural funding. The areas for co-operation agreed in the common chapter include not only those set out in the Belfast Good Friday Agreement but a range of actions across the wider socio-economic spectrum including health, education, infrastructure and information technology. The body is also charged with taking a more proactive approach to identifying constraints inhibiting full co-operation and it will report twice yearly on progress to my Department and its northern counterpart, and thence to the NSMC.
It will be at the NSMC that individual Ministers will be sponsoring proposals to promote economic co-operation between the two economies North and South. I shall be pursuing this at the relevant sectoral format meetings. The Deputy might address questions relating to non-Finance areas to the respective Ministers if he wishes to pursue further details on the other sectors to which I referred above. The Deputy may be assured that the Government attaches the highest priority to the whole area of North-South co-operation and development, and I, with my Department, will be playing a full role in this.
