Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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316. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he will provide an update on his engagements with the North-South Ministerial Council. [43517/13]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy is aware, the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) was established to develop consultation, co-operation and action within the island of Ireland - including through implementation on an all-island and cross-border basis - on matters of mutual interest and within the competence of the Administrations, North and South. The NSMC comprises Ministers of the Northern Ireland Executive and the Irish Government, working together to take forward co-operation between both parts of the island to mutual benefit. Six North South Implementation Bodies have been established. They operate under the overall policy direction of the NSMC, with clear accountability lines back to the Council and to the Oireachtas and the Northern Ireland Assembly.

My Department, along with the Department of Culture, Arts, and Leisure in Northern Ireland, is particularly engaged in support for the NSMC in its Language and Waterways sectors, given our role in co-funding and supporting two North/South Implementation Bodies under our remit, Waterways Ireland and An Foras Teanga, which comprises two agencies - Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency/Tha Boord o Ulstèr-Scotch. My Department is fully committed to supporting North/South co-operation, particularly in the context of the Good Friday Agreement and the St. Andrews Agreement. I, along with the Minister of State at my Department, Mr. Dinny McGinley, T.D., participate regularly in meetings of the NSMC, in both the Waterways and Language sectoral formats. There have been four such meetings already during 2013 - three in Language sectoral format viz. 6 March, 19 June and 10 July and one in Inland Waterways on 19 June 2013 - each held in Armagh. A further two sectoral meetings are planned for November. The Council issues a Joint Communiqué following sectoral meetings. These are available on

.

I also participate at the highest level of engagement, when the North-South Ministerial Council meets in plenary format. There has been one such meeting this year, held on 5 July 2013 in Dublin, with the next meeting planned for November.