Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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242. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the position regarding the upcoming North-South Ministerial Council meeting in November 2016. [33055/16]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The next Plenary meeting of the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) will be held on 18 November in Armagh. I expect that we will have a further substantive discussion with our Northern Ireland colleagues on the implications of the UK referendum result. The agenda will also cover discussions on economic and financial matters, as well as a range of other issues including the North West Gateway Initiative and the North/South commitments made under the Fresh Start Agreement of November 2015.

At the Plenary meeting of the NSMC on 4 July in Dublin Castle, the Government and the Northern Ireland Executive agreed to work together to ensure that Northern Ireland's interests are protected and advanced and that the benefits of North/South co-operation are fully recognised in any new arrangements which emerge as regards the United Kingdom's future relationship with the European Union. We noted that there are a number of priority areas where implications arise, including the economy and trade, Northern Ireland and British Irish Relations and the Common Travel Area.

We agreed that a full audit will be undertaken in all sectors to identify the possible impacts, risks, opportunities and contingencies arising in the phases preceding and following the UK's withdrawal from the EU. And we agreed that this work would be submitted to ministerial sectoral meetings for consideration as to the strategic and cross-cutting issues arising. The ongoing work to achieve these objectives will be reviewed by the Council when it meets in plenary format on 18 November in Armagh.