Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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153. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the issues discussed at the recent North South Ministerial Council meeting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38523/14]

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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A meeting of the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) in plenary format was held at Dublin Castle on 3 October 2014. This was the 18th Plenary meeting of the NSMC. At the meeting, discussions covered a wide range of financial, economic and EU matters including the employment situation in both jurisdictions and measures to encourage job creation. Also discussed were actions to build trade links with developing markets, attraction of foreign direct investment and issues relating to banking, in particular lending to Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, economic and budgetary challenges facing both administrations and measures aimed at rebalancing the Northern Ireland economy. Progress on the disposal of NAMA’s Northern Ireland portfolio was welcomed by the Council.

Ministers also welcomed the success of the Giro d’Italia cycling event which secured widespread global media coverage. We also noted the opportunities for tourism and trade through the hosting of all-island events and agreed to continue to cooperate on a joint bid for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

We noted that the draft Programmes for the new INTERREG V and PEACE IV Programmes for the period 2014 – 2020 have been submitted to the EU Commission. As several other new European programmes may present opportunities for cooperation to maximize the drawdown of EU funding to the island, we agreed that these should be further examined.

With regard to the St Andrews Agreement Review, the Council noted that discussions on Sectoral Priorities have now taken place, following the decisions taken at the last NSMC Plenary in November 2013 and the NSMC Institutional meeting in January 2014. These discussions focused on efforts to support economic recovery, job creation, ensuring the best use of public funds and the most effective delivery of services for citizens.

Ministers agreed that it had been useful to review progress and identify opportunities within the existing agreed work programmes and noted that a report on other priorities identified during the Ministerial discussions will be brought to the next NSMC Institutional Meeting.

The Council also reviewed the progress made on the areas of co-operation by the North/South Bodies and in the other areas for co-operation, and noted the current position on a North South Consultative Forum.

We also discussed the North West Gateway Initiative noting the conclusion of the consultation process that had been carried out with regional stakeholders and agreed that further consultation with relevant Government Departments should be undertaken on the issues identified during the consultation process and that there should be a meeting of Ministers in the North West to consider strategic approaches to the development of the region.

The Government is firmly committed to developing North South cooperation in every possible respect and I am looking forward to continuing to work with our Northern colleagues in the North South Ministerial Council.