Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if there is a North South Co-operation unit in his Department; the number of staff working in the North South Co-operation unit; the number of staff who have worked in the North South Co-operation unit in each year since 2007. [46624/12]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the current configuration of my Department came into operation in 2011 with Tourism and Sport previously being part of the then Department of Tourism, Culture and Sport, bringing two of the key areas for cooperation under the Good Friday Agreement, tourism and transport, together, as well as bringing a North/South body established under that Agreement, Tourism Ireland, under my Department's aegis. These areas are so important and deal with such a range of matters that, in practice, north/south cooperation is mainstreamed into day-to-day work right across the Department.  The divisions and agencies dealing with various policy areas have regular interaction with their colleagues in Northern Ireland.

To give a practical example of this mainstreaming, the recent North South Ministerial Council agreed the timetable for the mutual recognition of penalty points by 31 December 2014. This work will be carried out as part of the day to day work of the Road Safety division within my Department and is not separately carried by members of a North/South unit.

Cross-Departmental cooperation on North/South matters is overseen within my Department by the Tourism Marketing & Impact Assessment Unit and is supported by 1 Principal Officer, 1 Assistant Principal and 1 Higher Executive Officer led by the relevant Assistant Secretary. Responsibility rests within this unit as it also deals with oversight of Tourism Ireland, the only North South body under the aegis of my Department. The Deputy will also be aware that the North South Ministerial Council  meets regularly in both Transport and Tourism Sectorial formats to discuss areas of cooperation in these fields.