Cross-Border Co-operation

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 June 2016

Wednesday, 8 June 2016

Questions (378)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

378. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the State bodies under her remit that have developed memoranda of understanding with her counterpart in Northern Ireland with regard to the efficient delivery of services on the island of Ireland; if she has carried out a cost-benefit analysis of the development of further memoranda of understanding; the details of the cost-benefit analysis; and the new memoranda of understanding she will be creating between State bodies under their remits throughout the lifetime of this Government. [14276/16]

Written answers

Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

No cost benefit analysis has been undertaken regarding the development of Memoranda of Understanding between State Bodies under the remit of my Department and their counterparts in Northern Ireland in relation to delivering the services for which they are responsible on an all-Island basis.

However, my Department is co-sponsor of two of the North-South Implementation Bodies established under the Good Friday Agreement - Waterways Ireland and An Foras Teanga (which is comprised of two agencies - Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency/Tha Boord o Ulstèr-Scotch). The work of these Bodies is underpinned by Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that are agreed each year between the Bodies and the sponsor Departments in both jurisdictions.

The objective of these agreements is to ensure that resources are used in an efficient and cost effective manner to deliver quality services to the public. The SLAs agreed for 2016 set out the annual business targets for the bodies and agencies and define the output and outcome indicators by which performance will be measured.