Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 143: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the review of the North-South implementation bodies and areas for co-operation, as agreed by the North-South Ministerial Council, at its plenary meeting on 17 July 2007, has been completed; if he has been furnished with a copy of the relevant report; if his Department will carry out a ten- year review of the merit of the North-South bodies and of the strategic aims and associated functions of Foras na Gaeilge in particular; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9336/09]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The St Andrews Agreement of 2006 provided for a review to examine the efficiency and value for money of the North/South Implementation Bodies, including the North/South Language Body, of which Foras na Gaeilge is a part. The Agreement also provided for the review to examine the case for additional North/South Bodies and for additional areas of co-operation within the North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) and to input into work on the identification of a suitable substitute for the proposed Lights Agency of the Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission.

The North/South Ministerial Council agreed at its plenary meeting in July 2007 to set up a Review Group to take this work forward and to report back on it. The review is ongoing. At the most recent plenary meeting of the North/South Ministerial Council in Derry on 23 January 2009, Ministers welcomed the progress made to date and requested the Review Group to consider, in consultation with the relevant sponsor Departments and Ministers, North and South, draft recommendations on the existing North/South Bodies and to submit a report on that aspect of the review to the next meeting of the NSMC plenary. That meeting is expected to take place in June of this year.

The Council also requested the Review Group to complete work on its remaining terms of reference (the case for additional Bodies and areas of co-operation within the NSMC and the identification of a suitable substitute for the Irish Lights Agency) and to submit proposals to it by the end of 2009. In these circumstances, I do not feel that it would be appropriate for my Department to conduct a separate review of the North/South Bodies.