Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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79. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide a list of all formal North-South meetings through the North South Ministerial Council, formal engagements between the Minister for Foreign Affairs and formal engagements by An Taoiseach on North-South issues; if he will further provide details of bilateral meetings on an east-west basis for the year 2009 to 2013, inclusive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1619/14]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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The numbers of formal meetings of the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) in the years 2009 to 2013 are set out in tabular form below.

The NSMC meets in a number of formats. Plenary format involves the Government led by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste and the Northern Ireland Executive led by the First Minister and deputy First Minister. In Institutional format, the Irish Government is represented by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade who meets with the First Minister and deputy First Minister.

Sectoral meetings involve the relevant Ministers from the Government and from the Executive with responsibility for the North/South Implementation Bodies and the agreed areas of cooperation. The Executive Minister is always accompanied by another Minister to ensure compliance with the requirements of the Good Friday Agreement 1998 and the Northern Ireland Act 1998 that participation by the Executive in the NSMC must be on a cross-community basis.

Further details of these meetings are included in the Joint Communiqués issued following the meetings which are available from the website of the North South Ministerial Council

The East West relationship also includes my formal contacts with Foreign Secretary William Hague whom I meet regularly at Council meetings in an EU context and with whom I had separate bilateral meetings on 7 June and 6 December 2012, as well as in May 2011.

Deputy Prime Minister Clegg is also an important interlocutor and I met him most recently on 13 November 2013 as well as on 13 January and 9 November 2012 and on 8 May 2011.

In addition, I met the British Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, on 6 September 2013.

The East-West relationship also encompasses our relations with Wales and with Scotland and in this connection I would mention my meeting of 13 January 2012 with Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones. The Taoiseach regularly meets with representatives of the other jurisdictions in these islands at British Irish Council meetings, which take place twice annually.