I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
The Bill I introduce today is essential to preserve and protect a key element of the Good Friday Agreement – the North-South bodies. The purpose of it is to amend the British-Irish Agreement Act, 1999, to enable the decisions of the North-South Ministerial Council – NSMC – in relation to the North-South bodies to be taken by the Irish and British governments together, during this period in which devolved government in Northern Ireland is temporarily suspended. I am grateful to the House for agreeing to take the Bill as a matter of urgency and for its co-operation in agreeing to take all Stages today.
Immediately following the suspension of devolved government, the Irish and British Governments issued a joint statement which made clear that, while the Assembly was suspended, the Agreement was not. This is a vital distinction. We also gave a commitment to work together during the temporary suspension period to ensure that the Agreement and its achievements were protected and developed. Pending the restoration of devolved government, therefore, it falls to the two Governments, as guardians of the Agreement, to take whatever steps are necessary to fulfil this mandate and to manage the period ahead. In so doing, I firmly believe we are acting in accordance with the wishes and desires of the majority of the people on this island who voted for the Agreement and whose support gives it an enduring democratic strength and authority, which must be respected. We therefore have a clear and compelling responsibility to take action to maintain the North-South bodies during this interim period.
The British-Irish Agreement (Amendment) Bill amends the British-Irish Agreement Act of 1999. That Act gave domestic legislative effect to the agreements between the British and Irish Governments to establish the North-South Implementation Bodies. The North-South bodies were a central element of the Good Friday Agreement of 10 April, 1998 and, in particular, the strand two institutional arrangements which formed part of that Agreement. The bodies come under the overall policy direction of the North-South Ministerial Council and are accountable to it for their operations. They must receive Council approval for their annual budgets, operating plans, recruitment plans and other arrangements. During the current temporary suspension of devolved government, no meetings of the NSMC can take place. Therefore, the Council is unable to make decisions affecting the bodies.
The bodies were established by an international agreement between the British and Irish Governments. As long as that agreement remains in force, unamended, the bodies continue to exist and must operate in accordance with its provisions. That means they must seek NSMC approval for matters such as those I have mentioned. If the bodies are not in a position to obtain NSMC approval for their annual budgets and business plans, they will be unable to operate successfully. They would also, effectively, be left unaccountable to any outside authority. This is not a desirable state of affairs from the political point of view nor from the point of view of good corporate governance. The two Governments want to ensure the continued successful operation of the North-South bodies. Therefore, we have temporarily amended the terms of the international agreement establishing the bodies, by means of a supplementary agreement. This supplementary agreement allows for the decisions of the NSMC in relation to the North-South bodies to be taken by the two Governments, pending the restoration of devolved government.
The terms of the supplementary agreement, which was effected by an exchange of letters between my colleague, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and the British Ambassador, form a schedule to this Bill. The Bill gives domestic legislative effect to the supplementary agreement, by amending the British-Irish Agreement Act of 1999, in similar fashion. The continued success of the North-South bodies is of critical importance to the Government. They have major work programmes under way in their various areas of responsibility and since their establishment almost three years ago, they have built up good working relationships with the key stake holders in their sectors. The six bodies in question are: The Trade and Business Development Body, under the brand name of InterTradelreland; the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission; the Language Body, comprising Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency; the Special EU Programmes Body, which has responsibility for the management and delivery of the Peace 2 and TERREG EU-funded programmes; Waterways Ireland; and the Food Safety Promotion Board.
It is clear these bodies operate across a wide range of sectors and have diverse areas of responsibility and that the work which the bodies have brought this far should not be endangered. I will also make a brief reference to Tourism Ireland Limited the new North-South Tourism marketing company. It is responsible for marketing the island of Ireland overseas as a tourism destination. Deputies will note that Tourism Ireland Limited is not mentioned in the Bill before the House, although it is mentioned in the supplementary agreement which is attached as a schedule to the Bill. Tourism Ireland is not a statutory body. It is not mentioned in the original British-Irish Agreement Act, 1999. Instead, it is a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in this jurisdiction, and governed by the Companies Acts. Tourism Ireland has a similar relationship to the NSMC as the statutory North-South bodies. It is accountable to the North-South Ministerial Council and requires NSMC approval for its annual budget and other key decisions.
It is essential that Tourism Ireland is in a position to proceed with its very valuable and important work. The tourism industry is one of great value to the economy on this island and many Deputies will be aware of the very impressive start made by Tourism Ireland in its role of marketing the entire island of Ireland overseas as a tourism destination. Therefore, for the period in which the supplementary agreement is in force, Tourism Ireland will be accountable to the two Governments. In our case, the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism will be the Minister who will act on behalf of the Government in this regard. I emphasise that this Bill and these arrangements are being put in place solely on a temporary basis in the interests of good order and good corporate governance and in order to deal with the range of routine administrative decisions which are required by the North-South bodies. This will allow them to continue with their day to day operational activities as mandated by the NSMC. It is not the intention of the Government that this mechanism should be in place on a long-term basis.
The North-South bodies have been described as the "secret success" of the Good Friday Agreement. If so, it is not that anyone has been keeping them a secret but simply that they have been so effective and non-controversial in their activities that they have not been in the spotlight. They deserve our recognition. Having been in operation for nearly three years, the North-South bodies have bedded down very well and currently employ a staff of more than 700 people, drawn from both North and South. Their headquarters and regional offices are located throughout the island. They are based in locations such as Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Derry, Scarriff, Newry, Monaghan, Omagh, Carrick-on-Shannon, Eniskillen, Carlingford and Coleraine.
In a relatively short space of time they have become a vital part of the social and economic fabric of the island. The extent of their combined budgets, over €140 million, demonstrates the breadth of activity which their responsibilities embrace, activities of interest and benefit to all the people on the island. For example, Waterways Ireland, which incorporated the Shannon Erne Waterway Committee and now manages all the navigable inland waterways on the island, hosted a highly successful world canals conference held in Dublin, Belfast and Lisburn and is currently establishing a new permanent headquarters in Enniskillen. It has also completed a major navigation project in Limerick, which allows cruisers to travel from the top of the Erne navigation all the way to the Shannon Estuary.
The Food Safety Promotion Board, with headquarters in Cork city, has been running an important television advertising campaign, pro moting the safe preparation of food and the health issues involved. It also provided a very useful all-island helpline during the foot and mouth disease outbreak.
The trade and business development body, InterTrade Ireland, whose impressive headquarters were opened by the Tánaiste in Newry earlier this year, is tasked with improving cross-Border trade. As part of this work, it recently launched its equity network programme, which stimulates the use of private equity and venture capital as a means to accelerate business growth in the SME sector, and Focus and Fusion, two cross-Border graduate placement programmes. InterTrade also continues to make a valuable contribution to work on enhancing all-island competitiveness. The special EU programmes body, based in Belfast, Omagh and Monaghan, has just launched the new INTERREG programme in Newry last week. It is also the managing authority responsible for the ongoing delivery of the PEACE 2 programmes, worth over €700 million to the people of Northern Ireland and the Border region.
Foras na Gaeilge, the Irish language agency of the languages body which took over the responsibilities of Bord na Gaeilge on an island-wide basis, published a parliamentary dictionary, which was launched both in this House and at Stormont, a few months ago. It has also had good success with its major all-island marketing campaign, which attracted thousands of calls to the agency. It commenced work on producing a modern, high quality English-Irish dictionary and is leading a consultation process on the steps necessary for a review of the official standard of written Irish. The Ulster Scots Agency of that body successfully launched a series of informative leaflets on the Ulster Scots heritage in America and made a number of successful presentations on Ulster Scots in the United States. It has also hosted a conference of Ulster Scots organisations in County Antrim. The Loughs Agency of the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission, which has replaced the Foyle Fisheries Commission, is developing an impressive interpretative centre at its newly built headquarters at Prehen in Derry.
I have already mentioned the importance of the tourism industry for the economy, and Tourism Ireland's overseas promotional campaigns are undoubtedly critical to the success and development of this key industry throughout the whole island at a time of challenge and change in the global tourism market. Tourism Ireland was a major exhibitor at the World Travel Market Trade Show in London this month, attended by my colleague, the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism. These six implementation bodies and the all-island tourism company are true pioneers. They brokered a new way of doing business together on this island. In mutually defined areas, where a co-operative approach makes the best sense, we are now united in bringing forward key policy initiatives, taking decisions together, pooling resources and sharing expertise.
However, the bodies have not just had practical successes. They also play an important role in the normalisation of relationships on the island by bringing together colleagues and board members from North and South, by demonstrating the advantages of working together and by providing an enhanced and jointly-delivered service to the public. They make a unique contribution to the erosion of historic fears and suspicions, of the negative mindsets and narrow ways of thinking that can hold back progress on the wider implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.
This is also an opportunity to acknowledge the vital contribution made by the chairs, vice-chairs and other board members who serve on the implementation bodies and Tourism Ireland. The members of the boards, who are drawn from all traditions on the island, are to be commended for the extent of their commitment to the North-South bodies and for the professional manner in which they have discharged their important responsibilities. The achievements of the bodies prove the merit of the principles enshrined in the Agreement, principles of equality, partnership and respect. Their very existence demonstrates that the trust and confidence which we are currently seeking to re-establish in the wider process is attainable and deliverable.
We are currently addressing a situation where trust and confidence has been badly eroded. The key to moving forward now will be the re-establishment of that hard-won trust. This is a challenge which cannot be met purely by the determination of the two Governments alone. It is one to which all of us who subscribe to the fundamental principles and purpose of the Agreement must rise. The House will be aware that round table talks, chaired by the two Governments, were convened in Stormont last Thursday, 21 November. I assure the House that these talks were in no way the opening of a renegotiation of the Agreement which remains our only template. The two Governments felt it was important to get all those who subscribed to the Agreement in the first place back around the table to begin to address the key issues of confidence and trust in an open, constructive and collective way. The Good Friday Agreement was a collective endeavour. Therefore, there needs to be a collective effort to tackle the current impasse.
There is no doubt about the challenge we face and, as I told the House recently, time is of the essence in the context of the forthcoming Assembly elections in Northern Ireland. All the parties will need to engage fully on all the issues to facilitate the progress that we all want to see. An encouraging start was made at the round table talks. There was complete agreement that the Good Friday Agreement remained the template for political progress in Northern Ireland. While some parties identified the destabilising effects of paramilitary activity as the key issue that needed to be addressed, others pointed to the need for full implementation of the residual areas of the Agreement. In my view, these are not mutually exclusive positions. The political realities are that the continued operations of paramilitary organisations, both republican and loyalist, have created a crisis of confidence. Equally, however, experience has shown that this issue cannot be effectively addressed without an enabling political context, that is, full implementation of the Agreement in all its aspects.
It was agreed on Thursday that there is now a compelling need to fast-forward progress in all these outstanding areas. On the basis of the discussion to date and papers submitted by some parties, the two Governments are now preparing a comprehensive agenda for the next round table meeting, which will take place in Belfast this Thursday, again co-chaired by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of State. While the approach to addressing the outstanding issues should be both collective and comprehensive, it need not be lengthy. It is, after all, about reaffirming the Agreement and rededicating ourselves to the values, principles and commitments it contained. With the necessary political will and the required intensive engagement, which are already in evidence, it will be possible to resolve the current difficulties and restore the Northern Ireland institutions in sufficient time for the scheduled Assembly elections on 1 May 2003.
One thing is clear, there must be no turning back on the agenda for positive change which the Agreement represents. The North-South bodies are an intrinsic part of that new landscape which the Agreement has helped to create. This legislation will safeguard their achievements to date and ensure that the bodies can continue to carry out their important functions, protecting jobs, funding and services for the whole island. It will thereby guarantee that the North-South bodies are in a strong position to continue to play their part in ensuring the full implementation of the Agreement and in particular its strand 2 provisions on North-South co-operation.
One of the great opportunities created by the Agreement is the potential for enhanced North-South co-operation. Held back for too long by suspicion, the perception that it cloaked a hidden agenda and that it was some sort of stalking horse for political or constitutional change, co-operation between North and South, within the context of the Agreement and as exemplified by the bodies, is now part of everyday life on this island. Before suspension, the North-South Ministerial Council had held 65 successful meetings in locations all over the island, largely without a whisper of controversy, protest or dissent.
Ulster Unionist Ministers have played a full and productive role in that inclusive process, as indeed have Nationalist Ministers, with cross-community participation and support a vital, built-in feature of every meeting and decision. Four of those meetings were in plenary session, which I co-chaired with David Trimble and Seamus Mallon, and subsequently of course with Mark Durkan, and which were attended by the Government and our colleagues in the Northern Ireland Executive. I am saddened that the NSMC cannot meet at present and I greatly look forward to renewed meetings of the Council, including attending the next plenary, following the restoration of the Assembly. I look forward to resuming that mutually beneficial partnership with Unionist and Nationalist Ministers.
When I addressed the inaugural NSMC plenary meeting in Armagh, nearly three years ago, I began by saying that it was a day quite unlike any other. It was true to say so at that time, but one of the great achievements of the peace process has been that we have had many days like that one. The fact that council meetings have become commonplace, even routine, does not make them any less significant or valuable and the same holds true for the North-South bodies.
The commitment of the two Governments to the Good Friday Agreement remains resolute. It was never going to be a short haul trip. We have only one route map and there is only one journey. There were bound to be significant obstacles and setbacks along the journey, bearing in mind its newness. As I have said before, a setback becomes a terminal crisis only if we allow it to happen. However serious the difficulties, we have worked to overcome similar problems in the past and we are determined, with the continued support of the House, to overcome them in the future. Despite the current difficulties and the persistent efforts of some to undermine it, the Agreement continues to be supported by a considerable majority of the people of the North. I was struck by a recent poll to this effect carried out by the US consulate in Belfast which suggested that 66% of northern people think the political parties there should continue to operate within the Agreement. If we can secure the acts of completion that it is accepted are essential, we can move forward with confidence and without the hesitations and disruptions of the past. Our goal is to recapture the optimism and hope of the Agreement and to ensure that we will come to accept and appreciate the principles of partnership, fairness and equality on which it is based. I commend this Bill to the House.