Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 652: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government 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. [34220/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The North-South unit of my Department is responsible for co-ordinating matters relating to North-South and British-Irish co-operation in the environmental area in the framework of the Good Friday Agreement. This involves promoting and maximising co-operation, preparing and providing input to policy positions, monitoring progress, reporting to the Government and arranging and servicing official and ministerial level meetings as appropriate. In carrying out its role the unit works closely with key managers involved in North-South and east-west co-operation and liaises with the Department of Foreign Affairs, the North-South Ministerial Council joint secretariat and Northern Ireland and United Kingdom counterparts.

Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, new relationships based on mutually beneficial partnerships and equality have been established between administrations, North and South and east and west. These have enabled us to address common challenges in a mutually beneficial way through enhanced co-operation and joint action on a range of environmental issues, including waste management, water quality management, natural heritage, information and awareness and environmental research, and in areas such as planning, regional development, fire services and emergency planning. Some of the more notable of these include co-ordinated implementation of the EU water framework directive, joint implementation of the environmental protection and management measure of the EU INTERREG III A North-South Programme 2000-2006, which is providing €24 million in support for 20 cross-Border projects and the expansion of waste recycling on an all-island basis by the North-South market development steering group. Phase one of a jointly funded study intended to determine the feasibility of establishing a paper mill on the island of Ireland has been completed and consultation on this is now being undertaken with the relevant agencies.

Other notable areas include activities aimed at tackling illegal movements of waste, the management of shared biodiversity resources, specifically the development of a common approach to both threatened species and invasive alien species, and co-ordination of the implementation of the cross-Border aspects of the national spatial strategy and the regional development strategy for Northern Ireland.