Vol. 500 No. 5
38 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the recent document on North-South structures with specific reference to the area of tourism; and if he will give details of the limited company to be set up by Bord Fáilte and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board to market Ireland internationally. [3583/99]
50 Mrs. B. Moynihan-Cronin asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the position regarding the establishment of a tourism council as mentioned under strand II of the agreement of North-South co-operation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3469/99]
51 Mr. O'Shea asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the provisions, if any, he has put in place in his Department to allow for the operation of the cross-Border body on in-land waterways; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3030/99]
76 Mr. Kenny asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs his views on the proposed structure and model for the executive authority to deal with matters of the Irish language and inland waterways. [4473/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 38, 50, 51 and 76 together.
As I indicated in my reply to Priority Questions Nos. 6 and 7, the detailed preparations required to give effect to the agreement of 18 December are now the subject of intensive work between the British and Irish Governments, in consultation as appropriate with the Northern parties. It is a requirement of the Agreement that all the necessary legislative and other arrangements be in place to enable the implementation bodies to function at the time of its entry into force.
I trust that the House will appreciate that I cannot at this stage enter into detail on the arrangements currently under discussion in regard to the individual bodies, including those for inland waterways and for language. While the publicly-owned limited company in the tourism area which was agreed on 18 December does not require legislative and other preparations absolutely equivalent to those being undertaken for the implementation bodies, work to enable its formation is being carried actively forward by officials at present.
