Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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72. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht his views on whether he will receive the approval of the North-South Ministerial Council for a reduction in funding from his Department of €2.1 million for the North-South implementation bodies. [44490/13]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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The €2.1 million reduction referred to by the Deputy relates to current programme expenditure and will be distributed between the two North-South Implementation Bodies funded from my Department's Vote Group. As the Deputy is aware, budgets for the North-South Implementation Bodies are approved by the North-South Ministerial Council. These budgets are subject to ongoing discussion with the co-sponsoring Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure in Northern Ireland and agreement must also be reached on these matters between the sponsor and Finance Departments in both jurisdictions.

My Department will continue to work closely with the relevant parties to secure agreement on the 2014 budgets in the context of the available funding in both jurisdictions.