Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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Question 59: To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of meetings she has attended of the cross-Border group on child protection; the number of times it has met this year; the initiatives it is taking forward on cross-Border child protection issues; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19887/11]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I attended my first North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) plenary meeting on 10th June. My next engagement in this area is the NSMC sectoral meeting scheduled for 20th July next and which will be attended by my counterpart, Mr Edwin Poots, MLA, and Minister of the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety.

North/South co-operation in the area of child protection is overseen by the NSMC and progressed on an administrative basis by a Steering Group which is co-chaired by my Department and the Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety. A series of initiatives were identified for co-operation as follows:

(i) Research and Knowledge Transfer in Child Protection

(ii) Inter-Jurisdictional Protocol for the Transfer of Child Care cases between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland

(iii) Vetting and Barring Protocol

(iv) All-island media awareness

(v) Internet Safety The five areas of co-operation are being advanced by individual sub-groups and progress in each of these areas will be discussed at the forthcoming NSMC meeting.