Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)
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Question 122: To ask the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism the progress in promoting co-operation in sport on a North-South basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2271/09]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish Sports Council and the Sports Council for Northern Ireland have an excellent working relationship and engage in a number of joint initiatives, such as the Code of Ethics and Good Practice for Children's Sport, the All Island Sports Development Conference and programmes such as Youth Sport West.

The high level All Island Planning Group, which includes the Chairperson and Chief Executive of each Council, meets on a regular basis to ensure consistency in policy and practice in sports development. There is cooperation on such issues as research, development of high performance sport and anti-doping. The group ensures that there is no duplication of effort in planning and support for governing bodies of sport and individual athletes. The most recent meeting was held in Dublin on 16th December 2008.

In addition, the National Coaching and Training Centre has evolved into Coaching Ireland with an all-island remit and a clear focus to lead the development of coaching in Ireland. The Coaching Strategy for Ireland launched in 2008 was developed in partnership with the Irish Sports Council and Sport Northern Ireland. The strategy was developed following an extensive consultation process with coaches, athletes, national governing bodies of sport and other relevant agencies. A number of meetings have also taken place in the last year between officials of my Department and the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure to discuss sporting issues of mutual interest.