Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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169. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the timeframe for when the new Ireland-Scotland Cooperation Framework will be launched; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57159/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Building on the cooperation undertaken since 2021, the new Ireland-Scotland Bilateral Cooperation Framework 2030 will provide a high-level, action-oriented and forward-looking framework for cooperation between the Governments of Ireland and Scotland.

This framework puts particular emphasis on cooperation in areas to include offshore renewable energy; fostering research and academic links, and partnerships relating to culture, language and young people.

Over the past nine months, officials from my Department, including officers at Ireland’s Consulate General in Edinburgh, have engaged in detailed consultations with the Scottish Government to develop the new framework, as well as with other Irish Government Departments and relevant external stakeholders.

Work under this new Bilateral Cooperation Framework will be supported by the framework for cooperation set out in UK-Ireland Joint Statement 2030. Recent agreements around the EU-UK relationship will also provide an important underpinning.

Our intention is to formally launch the Bilateral Cooperation Framework later this year and make it available online, in the English and Irish languages.