Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 26: To ask the Minister for Finance the measures in relation to increased north south co-operation that he envisages will be included in the National Development Plan 2007-2013; and the discussions he has had to date with the relevant Departments or other interested groups in the Six Counties in relation to this matter. [25070/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The all-island dimension will be an important horizontal theme of the National Development Plan 2007-2013, which will be published next November. We face common challenges in the two parts of the island, such as the need to invest in infrastructure, energy provision, education and training, new technology and research and development. Co-operation in those and other areas can be of mutual benefit, and the NDP will set out an agreed strategic framework for such co-operation.

My Department, in its co-ordinating role drafting the next NDP, has engaged with other Departments on the issue of North-South co-operation, with particular reference in this context to programmes in their area of responsibility. More generally, there is ongoing liaison between Departments and their Northern counterparts on matters pertaining to North-South co-operation. My Department will shortly engage in direct consultation with its Northern counterpart on the North-South dimension of the NDP.

As the Deputy will appreciate, I cannot speculate at this stage on the context of the North-South co-operation elements of the NDP. I can, however, assure him that it is my objective that it be a substantive element that will set a basis for further mutually beneficial co-operation.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for his reply.

Will he confirm that his Department and all others have been requested by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dermot Ahern, to incorporate the all-Ireland dimension in their submissions for the next National Development Plan 2007-2013? I assume the Minister can refer directly only to his own Department, but as it is the anchor Department regarding preparation of the NDP, can he give us a sense of how seriously the issue is being taken across the Departments? What discussion and consultation has taken place with ministerial counterparts North of the Border? Has there been any consultation with the parties and other interested sectors in the North of Ireland? Were submissions sought, for instance?

While the common chapter of the National Development Plan 2000-2006 marked what one might term a tentative step away from the back-to-back approach that applied hitherto, which resulted in serious under development and the failure of natural communities to reach their full potential on both sides of the Border, does the Minister agree that we need not a common chapter but a common development plan to address all past failures properly and substantively?

Did the Minister note a statement by John Bradley of the Economic and Social Research Institute in a paper that he presented in Armagh earlier this year entitled "An island economy or island economies? Ireland after the Belfast Agreement"? In it, he said that the unfortunate reality is that both North and South are attempting to improve their competitive advantages largely in isolation from each other. What is the new regime now in place? Can the Minister elaborate on his reply, assuring us that we are in a new era of co-operation? What new areas of co-operation are intended under the new NDP?

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Given the logic of an island economy, it is an important horizontal theme cutting across the entire plan whereby one avoids duplication, applying a strategic framework that makes sense and is of mutual benefit to the two jurisdictions. That is eminently sensible and complies with the letter and spirit of the Agreement. It is true that there is an institutional requirement for everyone to ensure that the potential for North-South co-operation in all its aspects is not only promoted and spoken about but actively implemented. I have already mentioned that with regard to infrastructure, where development is envisaged on both sides of the Border and required for the competitive economy of the 21st century that we are trying to build. The same is true of energy provision, education and training, new technology and research and development.

Under the Good Friday Agreement, implementation bodies for trade and other areas have had some success. A great deal of work has gone into them, and we must continue promoting that culture of co-operation, which is to everyone's benefit and should therefore encounter no objections from anyone.

We also know that as soon as we can get a devolved administration up and running again under the terms of the Agreement, we will have local, democratically accountable Ministers in the Executive who could promote and be active in this area in a manner specific to the situation's requirements. The assurance that I can give the House is that this makes a great deal of economic sense. It informs our discussions on the North-South Ministerial Council pending the return of devolution.

From our perspective, it is a very important strand of the Agreement that must be actively promoted and implemented. I hope that in coming months we will see momentum entering the political process reflected in an economic agenda that ensures the success that we can achieve. I assure the Deputy as co-ordinator of the NDP that it is an area of activity in which I have a personal interest.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for reflecting so positively. I share his hope that we will see the devolved administration back up and running very shortly, since we both recognise that it will be the critical catalyst for delivery of much of the content of the NDP and plans North and South. The Minister stated in his first response that he was not able to speculate on specific content, but perhaps I might explore one or two areas very briefly. In terms of strategic development, particularly the need for a strategic transport corridor to the north west which will have tremendous benefits for both this area and the Six Counties, and the need to develop in a co-ordinated fashion the N2-A5 transport route, which currently fails to properly assist and encourage economic growth in the serviced counties from here to Donegal and Derry, does the Minister anticipate that we will see real co-operation in terms of this type of infrastructural development, which has been highlighted recently in a number of fora at local authority level, both North and South? Unquestionably, there is cross-party and cross-community support for such an approach.

Is there any prospect of an all-Ireland environmental protection agency being established? The creation of such an agency has previously been mooted. Is this option being considered? What will be contained in the plan in terms of enabling people in the Border areas to access health services which are closest to them rather than being practically herded or driven towards a particular service entity within their respective jurisdictions? These areas include primary care, encompassing GP and out-of-hours services, for which a pilot project is signalled for this year, and hospital access and procedures, including accident and emergency services. The real benefits of this approach have yet to be realised. These are the areas that will prove the real potential of cross-Border co-operation and working together.

The common chapter of the national development plan for 2000-06 committed the Irish and UK Governments to integrating the divided telecommunications system. Despite the fact there have been some improvements in areas such as roaming charges, we still have what applied at the introduction of the last NDP in 2000. Is the current review taking on board areas that have not progressed as hoped? What further steps can the Minister take to realise the hopes and aspirations of the NDP launched in 2000? I welcome any elaboration by the Minister.

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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It is unfortunate that the necessary trust and confidence one would have expected to have been built up in respect of the mutual benefit of North-South co-operation is still not universally understood, accepted or comprehended by various shades of political opinion. This is clearly unfortunate. However, it does not take away from the fact that on any objective analysis, and there have been such analyses carried out during the period when the executive was in position, progress was made in promoting and providing examples where North-South co-operation clearly made considerable sense. Considerable progress was also evident outside the structures, for example, in the energy sector. It is obvious that there is a range of tangible outputs that could benefit from genuine co-operation, for example, the areas of transport, energy, education, health and spatial planning. We have witnessed the co-operation and working together initiative, which was the first cross-Border initiative in health. Although this initiative is on a small scale, it indicates what can be achieved. For example, people in Cooley go to Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry for renal dialysis so a considerable amount of practical co-operation across jurisdictions is taking place, which should be the forerunner to far wider provision. We have seen this in the cancer care strategy, where we are trying to finalise arrangements that would be more suitable for people in the north west than would be the case were they to travel to Dublin, Cork or somewhere else. A considerable amount of work is ongoing. When people take the politics out of it, it would be far better if we could promote it to demonstrate that cancer incidence would be reduced and availability of cancer care improved, an area in which much progress has been achieved in recent months although it has not yet been finalised. Hopefully, it will soon be successfully finalised.

Practical co-operation can also exist in the area of environmental protection. The question of whether it would be the responsibility of an island-wide agency is open to question because the issue really concerns co-operation rather than getting caught up in structures. It is the substance of the co-operation that is important. There may be certain regulatory differentiations between both jurisdictions which might militate against an island-wide organisation. However, both jurisdictions co-operate in many areas, for example, waste management strategy. The question of whether an island-wide waste strategy can be used to deal with commercial or hazardous waste is an obvious opportunity to avoid duplication and the waste of resources and to establish more effective initiatives.

Cross-Border co-operation can be used across all major activities, including physical infrastructure, which is an obvious candidate. The British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference indicated last month that both Governments, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain, MP, are committed to exploring the potential for joint investment in key infrastructural projects which affect both sides of the Border.

Under the north-west gateway initiative, the National Roads Authority and its counterpart in Northern Ireland are currently engaged in a joint study of various options and will consider the action that is appropriate on foot of this study. People are also aware of the existence of assistance of €7.5 million, which was provided by the Exchequer towards the development of the City of Derry Airport. Where the political will has existed, co-operation has taken place. I hope this political will will increase rather than decrease and lead to more cross-Border co-operation.