Bernard Durkan
Question:19. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on Northern Ireland will next meet. [39167/24]
View answerWednesday, 23 October 2024
Questions (19)
Written answers
The Cabinet Committee on Northern Ireland was created on 10 April 2024 to oversee implementation of programme for Government commitments and ongoing developments related to Northern Ireland.
Its membership comprises me as Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence, and the Ministers for the Environment, Climate and Communications and Transport, Justice, Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, Finance, and Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Other Ministers and Ministers of State are invited to participate as required.
It met on 4 July 2024 and discussed recent developments in Northern Ireland, the Shared Island initiative, and the Omagh Bombing Inquiry. The date of its next meeting is not confirmed.
Issues related to Northern Ireland are also discussed at Cabinet and in bilateral meetings I regularly have.
On 13 September I hosted the 28th Plenary meeting of the North South Ministerial Council in Dublin Castle. Ministers on both sides emphasised the importance of North-South co-operation and discussed the substantive work undertaken across each of the twelve work sectors of the NSMC since the last plenary meeting.
At our September meeting in Farmleigh, Prime Minister Starmer and I discussed our shared commitment as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement, and our ambition for greater opportunity, economic prosperity and reconciliation across these islands to include and benefit Northern Ireland. We also agreed to initiate a series of annual leader-level Summits, with the first to take place in spring 2025.