Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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339. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if he will provide details of all official engagements by him or the Ministers of State in his Department that have taken place in Northern Ireland since he took office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6812/14]

Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North-West Limerick, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, I and the Minister of State at my Department, Mr. Dinny McGinley, T.D., are both committed to deepening and enhancing North/South cooperation across the various areas of our remit. As the Deputy will be aware, my Department funds two of the six North South Implementation Bodies established under the 1999 British-Irish Agreement. These are Waterways Ireland and An Foras Teanga (which comprises two agencies - Foras na Gaeilge and the Ulster-Scots Agency/Tha Boord o Ulstèr-Scotch). These Implementation Bodies carry out a range of activities in line with their statutory remits. They operate under the policy direction of the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) and are supported by funding from their two sponsor Departments, my own Department and Northern Ireland's Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure. 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. I also participate at the highest level when the NSMC meets in Plenary format.

My Department is committed to supporting North/South co-operation particularly in the context of the Good Friday Agreement and the St. Andrews Agreement. Other areas of cross border co-operation include work on the planning of commemorations, collaborations between museums on either side of the border, participation by a number of projects in Northern Ireland in Culture Night, as well as engagement on built and natural heritage, and environmental matters. Both I and my colleague, Minister of State McGinley, have also taken the opportunity of attending other cross-border cultural functions. This has included my attendance at the recent Belfast Féile, the William Kennedy Piping Festival in Armagh, the Ulster Museum Commemoration lecture and an event on the Ulster Covenant, the launch of Buntings' Ancient Irish Music in the Linenhall Library, an event at Teac Mallon Creative Arts Centre, an event in the Ulster Hall to celebrate the twinning of Downpatrick and Listowel and the launch of Gaeilge Gan Stró in 2012. I addressed the European Walled Towns Network and invited guests in Derry and attended many cultural events organised as part of the Derry City of Culture programme in 2013. My colleague Minister McGinley has also attended both cultural and heritage events in Northern Ireland, including Robbie Burns concerts and the launch of the Ulster-Scots Foundation Certificate in Highland Piping at Stormont.

In 2011, there were two NSMC sectoral meetings held in Northern Ireland and attended by both myself and the Minister of State at my Department, Mr. Dinny McGinley, T.D. In 2012 and 2013, there were 4 such meetings held each of these years in Northern Ireland. In addition, I attended 3 NSMC Plenary meetings in Northern Ireland, on 18 November 2011, 2 November 2012 and 8 November 2013.