Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I assure the Deputy that my Department is fully committed to supporting North-South co-operation, particularly in the context of the Good Friday Agreement and the St. Andrews Agreement.

As the Deputy will be aware, my Department funds two of the six North-South implementation bodies established under the 1999 British-Irish Agreement. These are Waterways Ireland and An Foras Teanga, which comprises two agencies - Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency-Tha Boord o Ulstèr-Scotch. These implementation bodies carry out a range of activities in line with their statutory remits. They operate under the policy direction of the North-South Ministerial Council, NSMC, and are supported by funding from their two sponsor Departments - my Department and Northern Ireland's Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure.

In addition to the language and inland waterways sectors, my Department and bodies funded from its core Vote continue to explore ways of deepening and enhancing North-South co-operation. In this regard, my Department works closely with the British-Irish Council and supports artists on an all-Ireland basis to present their work internationally. Other areas of cross-Border co-operation include work on the planning of commemorations, collaborations between museums on either side of the Border and participation by a number of projects in Northern Ireland in Culture Night 2013 as well as engagement on built and natural heritage and environmental matters. For example, last April I accepted the invitation of the Northern Ireland Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure, Carál Ní Chuilín, MLA, to visit Belfast and see at first hand some of the excellent work underway in that city in regard to language and culture and to meet with representatives of organisations active in that area. My colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, has also taken the opportunity of attending other cross-Border cultural functions, including Robbie Burns concerts and the launch of the Ulster-Scots Foundation Certificate in Highland Piping at Stormont.

Finally, I can advise the Deputy that I, along with the Minister of State, participate regularly in meetings of the NSMC in both the waterways and language sectoral formats. Four sectoral meetings have taken place to date in 2013 with another two planned for November. In addition, I participate at the highest level when the NSMC meets in plenary format.

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