Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

A number of the questions refer to the North-South Ministerial Council, parliamentary forums, cross-Border activities and so on.

As Head of the Government, I wish to see North-South relations continue to advance and levels of economic cooperation increase, to ensure peace and stability on this island and with a view to accelerating economic recovery to our mutual benefit. I am also acutely aware of the political importance of all of the institutions established by the Good Friday Agreement, including not only the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive, but also the North-South Ministerial Council, the North-South bodies and the British-Irish Council.

As set out in the Good Friday Agreement, relevant Ministers and officials from North and South work together through the North-South Ministerial Council on agreed areas of co-operation. The next plenary meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council is scheduled to take place on 10 June. I look forward to chairing the meeting, which will take place here in the South at a location yet to be decided. I expect that we will have discussions around the economic situation North and South and that we will give consideration to a range of areas of North South co-operation. I see the June plenary meeting as an important opportunity to make quick progress on a range of outstanding issues and opportunities, with new Administrations in place both here and in Belfast.

As I have said before in this House and as set out in the programme for Government, this Government is fully committed to the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and the St. Andrews Agreement, which have brought about transformational change on this island. Under the St. Andrews Agreement, it was agreed that the Northern Ireland Executive and Irish Government, under the auspices of the North-South Ministerial Council, would appoint a review group. That group was asked to examine the efficiency and value for money of existing North-South implementation bodies and also to look at the case for additional bodies and areas of co-operation within the North-South Ministerial Council where mutual benefit would be derived.

Relevant Ministers in both jurisdictions have been consulted on all aspects of the St. Andrews Agreement review. I understand that this process is now near completion and that the review group is to prepare a report for consideration by the North-South Ministerial Council at its plenary meeting in June. I hope that the process will be brought to a conclusion at that stage and that further progress can be made.

In that context, I also hope to see progress on the establishment of the North-South consultative forum. As the Deputy knows, proposals on this were previously made to the Northern Ireland Executive. Three successful consultative conferences involving social partners and other groups from civil society from across the island were facilitated by the previous Government.

Another outstanding commitment under the St. Andrews Agreement on which I would like to see movement is the establishment of the North-South parliamentary forum. While its establishment is a matter for agreement between both the Oireachtas and the Assembly, I hope that there will be progress on this after the Assembly elections in May. I have written formally to the Ceann Comhairle about this and I know that he is very supportive of the proposal.

The Government continues to be supportive of the A5 north-west gateway to Aughnacloy and the A8 Belfast to Larne road projects. Roads are long-term investments but will pay dividends in terms of the contribution to the economy of the North and the north west and the mutual benefits that will accrue to the island as a whole. As I said to the First and deputy First Ministers when we met in Washington last month, I am also open to looking at ways of delivering this project more effectively but to the same high quality.

The future prosperity of the Northern Ireland economy is a matter of concern to everyone in this part of the island as well. The UK Treasury has published a consultation document, entitled "Rebalancing the Northern Ireland Economy", which sets out the major challenges facing the Northern economy. I took the opportunity to discuss this with the British Prime Minister yesterday and I assured him that we shared the objective of helping the Northern Ireland Executive to rebalance the Northern economy, as well of developing the all-island economy.

In the meeting in Downing Street, I held a wide-ranging discussion with the Prime Minister. The issues we discussed included the strength of the bilateral relationship between Britain and Ireland, which will be reflected in the forthcoming visit by Queen Elizabeth, the economic challenges we both face and a number of issues of common concern at EU level. The Prime Minister was very supportive of the action being taken by the Government, both at home and internationally, to deal with our economic problems. We had a useful exchange on the current situation in the European Union and how we could work together to ensure that EU policies and action support economic growth and recovery across the Union. I expressed my appreciation for the loan which Britain was providing for Ireland and the manner in which the Prime Minister and his colleagues had dealt with the matter. I did not engage in a detailed discussion about the interest rate, as that matter is being dealt with by eurozone finance Ministers.

With regard to Northern Ireland, we discussed recent political developments, notably the successful completion of the first ever full term power sharing government, security co-operation and opportunities for all-island economic co-operation. We both expressed admiration for the leadership shown by all sections of society in the aftermath of the terrible murder of Constable Ronan Kerr and especially the powerful statement made by his mother, Nuala. We agreed on the importance of maintaining and enhancing the historic progress made in policing in Northern Ireland and the need to continue to work together to ensure we did not slip back, notwithstanding the recent ending of the special 50-50 recruitment provisions introduced after the Patten report.

With regard to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings, the question of obtaining access to information held by the British Government on the bombings has been pursued for many years by successive Governments and with the support of Members on all sides of the House. There was a significant and lengthy inquiry by two very eminent judges, Judge Hamilton and Judge Barron; a thorough examination by an Oireachtas committee and a full commission of investigation conducted by Mr. Patrick MacEntee. In 2008 the House passed an all-party motion on the matter which was transmitted to the House of Commons. The issue arose again in a broader discussion yesterday with the Prime Minister when we both acknowledged that there were a great number of sensitive issues relating to the past that needed to be sensitively considered without getting into endless, open-ended inquiries. There are many other acts of violence in respect of which victims on all sides wish to have more information on what happened to their loved ones. The Pat Finucane case also arose in that context and I understand the British Government is continuing to consider how that matter might be resolved.

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