asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the working party of civil servants from each side of the Border set up to study cross-Border development are still meeting; and the proposals they have for the development of the region.
Written Answers. - Cross-Border Development.
516.
Officials of my Department maintain regular contact with officials from Northern Ireland and Britain who are concerned with cross-Border economic co-operation. A great deal of contact and co-operation also takes place between individual Departments north and south.
Proposals for the development of the border area are contained in three cross-Border studies — the Derry-Donegal Communications Study, the Erne Catchment Study and the Newry-Dundalk Study. Progress has been made in relation to some of the recommendations in these studies in so far as resources permit and there are plans for two further studies, one in relation to Lough Melvin and the other in relation to the economic development of the Derry-Donegal area. In addition, I have asked the relevant Departments to consider favourably the report prepared by ECOSOC on the border areas which was presented to both Governments in May of this year.
Finally, the Co-ordinating Committee of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Council which supervises and has responsibility for the overall co-ordination of co-operation between north and south and between Britain and Ireland has met on three occasions in 1984 for this purpose.