Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Meetings of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference, BIIGC, are prepared through the joint British-Irish Intergovernmental Secretariat in Belfast, which is staffed by officials from my Department and the Department of Justice and Equality and their counterparts in the Northern Ireland Office. The role of Irish and British Government officials, including those working in the secretariat, to support the meetings of the BIIGC is underpinned in Article 8, strand three of the Good Friday Agreement. The most recent meeting of the BIIGC took place in London on 25 July. The Government was represented by the Minister for Justice and Equality, Deputy Charles Flanagan, and myself acting as co-chair. The UK Government was represented by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, David Lidington MP, and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Karen Bradley MP.

As established under strand three of the Good Friday Agreement, the conference brings both Governments together to promote bilateral co-operation on matters of mutual interest within their competence. At the July meeting of the conference, we discussed legacy issues, security co-operation, east-west matters, political stability and future meetings of the BIIGC. During this meeting, the Irish and British Governments agreed to hold the next meeting of the conference this autumn. Officials from across government, in co-ordination with my officials in the Irish secretariat in Belfast, continue to follow up on the outcomes of the conference. A date for the next meeting is being considered.

I will meet some of my counterparts in the British Government next week and I hope we will be able to move towards agreeing the date for the next BIIGC, which, in my view, is very important in the absence of a functioning devolved Government in Northern Ireland. We are very conscious of the areas in which the Irish Government does and does not have an input or is part of the conversation. Certainly in terms of east-west interests and relationships the BIIGC structure is very important right now.

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