Vol. 526 No. 2
12 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the progress made towards meeting the objectives for North-South tourism co-operation set out in the Good Friday Agreement; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25963/00]
In their statement of 18 December 1998, the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of the Northern Ireland Assembly, following intensive negotiations and consultations involving the Assembly parties and, as appropriate, the Irish and British Governments, announced that tourism would be an area for co-operation under the North-South Ministerial Council provided for in the Good Friday Agreement. In that context, a publicly-owned limited company was to be established by the Northern Irish Tourist Board and Bord Fáilte to carry out a range of functions aimed at promoting increased tourism to the island of Ireland.
On 27 October 2000, I met Ministers Empey and Farren in the first meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council in tourism sectoral format. At this meeting we agreed the memorandum and articles of association for the proposed tourism company and the necessary start-up arrangements. We also agreed that the board of the new company will have 12 members, including representation from Bord Fáilte, the Northern Irish Tourist Board and tourism industry interests in the North and South. The membership of the board will be formally approved at an early meeting of the NSMC.
At the inaugural plenary meeting of the NSMC on 13 December 1999, the council agreed that the headquarters of the tourism company would be in Dublin with a regional office in Coleraine. On 27 October, we agreed that that office would have responsibility for printing, publishing and distribution. We have agreed the arrangements for funding the new company, including a South-North funding ratio of 2:1 for the programme costs of the company.
We have approved a schedule for the establishment of the company that will see it up and running as soon as possible. A project team of senior officials drawn from Bord Fáilte and the Northern Irish Tourist Board has been established to take forward the initial set up arrangements for the company with a view to a progress report being submitted to the next meeting of the NSMC in tourism sectoral format. Finally, we agreed arrangements for recruiting the chief executive officer of the new company.
We concluded that the work of the NSMC in tourism sectoral format had got off to a satisfactory start and both sides looked forward to working closely together in overseeing the development of the new company. We agreed that the next meeting of the NSMC in tourism sectoral format will take place in January or February 2001.
