Brendan Smith
Ceist:30 Mr. B. Smith asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the progress to date in relation to the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. [22379/00]
Vol. 524 No. 3
30 Mr. B. Smith asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the progress to date in relation to the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. [22379/00]
Progress towards securing the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement is continuing.
Following the restoration of the Executive and the Assembly at the end of May, the institutions are now fully operational again. After an intensive round of meetings in its various sectoral formats, the second plenary meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council took place in Dublin on 26 September, reviewing progress in the North-South institutions to date and agreeing a programme of further work for the months ahead. We look forward to hosting the second summit level meeting of the British-Irish Council, where the Taoiseach will lead discussions among members on possible joint approaches to tackling the problem of drugs.
Following the enactment of the necessary legislation by the Oireachtas, on 20 July the Government announced the appointment of former Supreme Court Judge Dónal Barrington as President of the new Human Rights Commission in this jurisdiction. The process of appointing the other eight Commissioners is under way and it is expected that the Commission should be in a position to commence its work before the end of the year. An early priority will be the establishment of the Joint Committee with the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission.