Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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Question 544: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will provide a list of any meetings he has had with his Northern counterpart, Alex Atwood MLA; the purpose of each meeting; his plans for future cooperation with him and if he has addressed climate change at any meetings. [41395/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I met Alex Attwood, MLA, in his capacity as Minister of the Environment in Northern Ireland at a North South Ministerial Council Plenary meeting on 10 June 2011 and at meetings of the North South Ministerial Council (Environment Sector) in Armagh on 1 July 2011 and 21 October 2011. A further meeting of the Council is scheduled for 2 March 2012 which will be attended by Minister Attwood. I also had the pleasure to launch jointly with Minister Attwood the Irish Recycled Plastic Waste Arisings Study, which was undertaken under the North South Market Development Programme, when we both addressed the Environment Ireland conference in Dublin in September 2011.

The North South Ministerial Council was established under Strand Two of the Good Friday Agreement to develop consultation, co-operation and action within the island of Ireland on matters of mutual interest. Meeting in its Environment Sector format, discussions in the Council have concentrated to date on waste management, including illegal dumping of waste from the South in Northern Ireland, implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive and joint approaches to environmental research and monitoring. Arising from our very positive meetings to date, Minister Attwood and I are working to broaden this agenda within the areas of co-operation mandated under the Good Friday Agreement.

Climate change is not a mandated area for co-operation and therefore cannot be formally discussed by the Council. However, Minister Attwood and I have discussed issues related to climate change on the margins of Council meetings. Pending the finalisation of Phase 2 of the St Andrew's Review, I expect that issues of mutual interest not falling within the scope of the mandated areas, including climate change, will continue to be discussed bilaterally.