Lord Empey:

The overarching rule envelope in which we operate is that all of the different strands and elements of the agreement are supposed to be working in parallel, and not in a one on, one off, one working and others not working fashion. It only works if it all works. Recently, therefore, the profile of North-South co-operation through the different organisations, of which there are six, has become extremely low. As I have said, I was involved with InterTradeIreland and Tourism Ireland. Both have functioned pretty well, and when they were at meetings they were doing a lot of work. A lot of preparatory work went into them. There is still huge potential. There is no difficulty with the principle of working the institutions and getting them to deliver. Over time, there is no reason one cannot look at the areas being covered to see if they need amendment as things change. That is, of course, perfectly true. However, even if there is no North-South body that does not prevent North-South co-operation. As the Senator has pointed out we have done quite a bit on energy. When I took another job in employment and learning we did stuff although there were no formal North-South bodies. That did not stop us co-operating with universities on higher education issues. One cannot co-operate if only one party is at the table and the others are closed down. The fact that there have been so many interruptions to the operation of the institutions is, in and of itself, an issue. I do not think that is an obstacle. One needs to be able to prove that the institutions are sitting and working. In recent years they sadly have not been. We are sitting here, and while they go on and do their job as best they can, they do not have any meaningful ministerial direction.