Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Promotion of particular regions as tourist destinations is a matter for the relevant tourism agencies. The work is primarily undertaken by Tourism Ireland in respect of overseas promotion and Fáilte Ireland and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board in respect of domestic promotion. In terms of meetings between Government Ministers from the North and South, these meetings take place on a bilateral basis to discuss particular issues, more broadly in the format of a North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) Plenary meeting or, where the sector is identified as a formal area of North South cooperation, a NSMC Sectoral meeting.

With regard to my areas of responsibility, as the Deputy will be aware, tourism was specifically identified in the Good Friday Agreement as one of the key areas for North/South cooperation, and consequently it is one of the sectors on which the North/South Ministerial Council meets in Sectoral format. The Council meets in this format in order to make decisions on common policies and approaches in the area of tourism. It also takes decisions on policies and actions to be implemented by Tourism Ireland Limited, a publicly owned limited company established to promote the island of Ireland overseas as a tourist destination.

In terms of meetings between the respective Ministers with responsibility for tourism, there have been a total of ten North/South Ministerial Council meetings in Tourism Sectoral format. The most recent one took place on the 16th June last in Armagh when I met with the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland, Ms Arlene Foster MLA. Among the items discussed at this meeting were the challenging environment for tourism globally and Tourism Ireland's Business Plan for 2010, including its plans to focus on best prospect markets and spread the value message in tactical marketing campaigns. The next such meeting will take place in the coming months.

On the sports side, I also had a meeting with my Northern Ireland counterpart, the Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure, Nelson McCausland MLA, at the opening of the Aviva Stadium in May where we discussed a number of sporting issues of mutual interest. Finally, I also attended the tenth Plenary meeting of the North South Ministerial Council at Farmleigh House on 5th July last. Minister Arlene Foster, MLA and Minister Nelson McCausland, MLA also attended this meeting.