Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 357: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will report on the work of the North-South unit in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34212/05]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Good Friday Agreement set out a new vision for the island of Ireland and led to the establishment of the North-South Ministerial Council and the North-South implementation bodies. My Department is a co-sponsor of one of the North-South implementation bodies, InterTrade Ireland, the all-island trade and business development body. The North-South unit of my Department was established to provide policy and administrative support for ministerial participation in the North-South Ministerial Council, to co-ordinate the work of the Department on North-South policy issues and to oversee the Department's interactions with InterTrade Ireland and the Northern Ireland Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment.

North-South economic co-operation and the continuing development of the island economy is a priority for my Department. The primary means through which this is achieved is by the implementation of the annual business plans of InterTrade Ireland which set out a comprehensive range of projects and activities to promote the continued development of the island economy in the areas of trade and business development. InterTrade Ireland's mission for the period 2005-07 is to enhance the global competitiveness of the all-island economy to the mutual benefit of Ireland and Northern Ireland through measures such as the creation of knowledge-intensive all-island trade and business development networks and the implementation of all-island trade and business development programmes.

My Department is committed to working with business organisations such as the IBEC-CBI Joint Business Council to advance North-South co-operation. My Department, together with other Departments, is co-operating with the Joint Business Council on the Council's two-year action plan to enhance the competitiveness of businesses on the island of Ireland. My Department is also playing a pivotal role in advancing the US-Ireland research and development partnership, set up to facilitate high level, world class collaborations between centres of excellence in Ireland, north and south and the United States in the broad areas of information and communications technology and biotechnology. As a result of the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly in October 2002, the North-South Ministerial Council cannot meet. As a consequence, the British-Irish agreements have been amended. The amendments provide that the British and Irish Governments take joint decisions, when appropriate, on matters relating to InterTrade Ireland and the other North-South implementation bodies. The North-South policy unit is responsible for my Department's oversight of these interim procedures. To date, 14 joint ministerial decisions relating to InterTrade Ireland have been made in accordance with these interim decision making procedures.