North/South Ministerial Council

North/South Ministerial Council

Abbreviation	NSMC
Formation	13 December 1999 (1999-12-13)
Type	IGO
Legal status	British-Irish Agreement
Headquarters	Armagh, Northern Ireland2
Coordinates	54°21′00″N 6°39′20″W
Region served	Ireland
Website	www.northsouthministerialcouncil.org
Remarks	2 This is the location of the standing Joint Secretariat of the North/South Ministerial Council.

The North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) (Irish: An Chomhairle Aireachta Thuaidh-Theas, Ulster-Scots: North South Meinisterlie Council) is a body established under the Good Friday Agreement to co-ordinate activity and exercise certain governmental powers across the whole island of Ireland.

The Council takes the form of meetings between ministers from both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and is responsible for twelve policy areas. Six of these areas are the responsibility of corresponding North/South Implementation Bodies. The body is based in the city of Armagh.

The North/South Ministerial Council and the Northern Ireland Assembly are "mutually inter-dependent" institutions: one cannot exist without the other. When the Northern Ireland Assembly is suspended, responsibility for areas of co-operation fall to the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference.

Organisation

Good Friday Agreement

Strand 1
Northern Ireland Assembly
Strand 2
North/South Ministerial Council
Strand 3
British–Irish Council British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference
Additional bodies
British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly North/South Inter-Parliamentary Association North/South Consultative Forum

The Ministerial Council consists of representatives of both the Northern Ireland Executive and the Government of Ireland. The Ministerial Council may meet in either a plenary or, more commonly, sectoral format. In a plenary meeting a Northern Ireland delegation is led by the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland while the Republic's delegation is led by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste (prime minister and deputy prime minister).

A meeting in a sectoral format deals only with one particular policy area, and consists of the minister from Dublin with responsibility for the area under discussion, and two ministers from Northern Ireland (usually one unionist and one nationalist), including the minister with the relevant competence. The Council is supported by a standing joint secretariat, consisting of members of the civil services of both Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The Council also has occasional meetings in an "institutional" format to consider other business and technical matters, such as appointments to boards.

Areas for co-operation

The Council is responsible for twelve "areas for co-operation". Six of these are in areas where co-operation must be agreed together but implemented separately in each jurisdiction. Six more are in areas where co-operation is agreed together and implemented through shared all-Ireland "implementation bodies".

Areas for co-operation where implementation is carried out separately:

• Agriculture: Common Agricultural Policy issues, animal and plant health, agricultural research and rural development.
• Education: Education for children with special needs, educational under-achievement, teacher qualifications and school, youth and teacher exchanges.
• Environment: Environmental protection, pollution, water-quality management and waste management.
• Health: Accident and emergency planning, co-operation on high-technology equipment, cancer research and health promotion.
• Tourism: The promotion of the island of Ireland as a tourist destination for overseas visitors via the establishment of a new company, known as Tourism Ireland.
• Transport: Co-operation on strategic transport planning including road and rail infrastructure and public transport services and road and rail safety.

The six all-Ireland implementation bodies are:

• Waterways Ireland: Management of specific and chiefly recreational inland waterways.
• Food Safety Promotion Board: Food safety awareness.
• Special European Union Programmes Body: Management and oversight of EU programmes and common chapters of the National Development Plan (Republic of Ireland) and the Northern Ireland Structural Funds Plan.
• The North/South Language Body: Promotion of the Irish and Ulster Scots languages through two separate agencies, Foras na Gaeilge (Irish) and Tha Boord o Ulstèr-Scotch (Ulster Scots).
• InterTradeIreland: Northern Ireland-Republic of Ireland trade and business development.
• Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission: The management and development of Lough Foyle and Carlingford Lough and coastal lights through two separate agencies, The Loughs Agency and Lights Agency

In addition to these bodies, Tourism Ireland, is a de facto seventh implementation body. Additional areas for co-operation may be added by agreement among the Council and with the endorsement of the Northern Ireland Assembly and Oireachtas.

Originally, a new jointly owned agency, Lights Agency, was intended to replace the Commissioners of Irish Lights, which is funded from the UK Department for Transport-managed General Lighthouse Fund to provide coastal aids to navigation throughout the island of Ireland. However, complexities arising from the transfer of functions have meant that this has had to be reconsidered.

Operation

Plenary meetings occur twice yearly. Since 2009, the location of these have alternated between Dublin and Armagh. Sectoral meetings occur more frequently at various locations.

The level of co-operation differs across areas. For example, co-operation on tourism proceeded very rapidly (creating Tourism Ireland in 2000). On the other hand, there was initially little co-operation in the area of transport. At first because of resistance from the relevant minister in Northern Ireland and later because, after the restoration of the Council following suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly, because the British and Irish governments had already done much of the work during a period of direct rule.

In 2007, the joint secretariat number 25 personnel, comprising 10 from Ireland and 15 from Northern Ireland. In 2010, the secretariat took up new, permanent office in Armagh. Budgets, staff numbers and headquarters for the six implementation bodies (including Tourism Ireland) in 2008 were as follows:

Implementation body	Location	Staff	Budget (millions)
Waterways Ireland	Enniskillen	345	€50.9
Food Safety Promotion Board	Cork	27	€10.2
Special European Union Programmes Body	Belfast	66	€4.6
InterTradeIreland	Newry	44	€17.1
The North/South Language Body	Dublin and Belfast	69	€25.7
Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission	Derry and Carlingford	47	€8.5
Tourism Ireland	Dublin and Coleraine	160	€78.6
		758	€195.6

Meetings

	Date	First Minister of Northern Ireland	Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland	Taoiseach	Tánaiste	Location held
1st	13 December 1999	David Trimble	Seamus Mallon	Bertie Ahern	Mary Harney	Armagh	[1]
2nd	26 September 2000	David Trimble	Seamus Mallon	Bertie Ahern	Mary Harney	Dublin	[2]
3rd	30 November 2001	David Trimble	Mark Durkan	Bertie Ahern	Mary Harney	Dublin	[3]
4th	28 June 2002	David Trimble	Mark Durkan	Bertie Ahern	Mary Harney	Armagh	[4]
5th	17 July 2007	Ian Paisley	Martin McGuinness	Bertie Ahern	Brian Cowen	Armagh	[5]
6th	7 February 2008	Ian Paisley	Martin McGuinness	Bertie Ahern	Brian Cowen	Dundalk	[6]
7th	23 January 2009	Peter Robinson	Martin McGuinness	Brian Cowen	Mary Coughlan	University of Ulster at Magee	[7]
8th	6 July 2009	Peter Robinson	Martin McGuinness	Brian Cowen	Mary Coughlan	Dublin	[8]
9th	14 December 2009	Peter Robinson	Martin McGuinness	Brian Cowen	Mary Coughlan	Limavady	[9]
10th	5 July 2010	Peter Robinson	Martin McGuinness	Brian Cowen	Mary Coughlan	Dublin	[10]
11th	21 January 2011	Peter Robinson	Martin McGuinness	Brian Cowen	Mary Coughlan	Armagh	[11]
12th	10 June 2011	Peter Robinson	Martin McGuinness	Enda Kenny	Eamon Gilmore	Dublin	[12]
13th	18 November 2011	Peter Robinson	Martin McGuinness	Enda Kenny	Eamon Gilmore	Armagh	[13]
14th	15 June 2012	Peter Robinson	Martin McGuinness	Enda Kenny	Eamon Gilmore	Dublin	[14]
15th	2 November 2012	Peter Robinson	Martin McGuinness	Enda Kenny	Eamon Gilmore	Armagh	[15]
16th	5 July 2013	Peter Robinson	Martin McGuinness	Enda Kenny	Eamon Gilmore	Dublin	[16]
17th	8 November 2013	Peter Robinson	Martin McGuinness	Enda Kenny	Eamon Gilmore	Armagh	[17]
18th	3 October 2014	Peter Robinson	Martin McGuinness	Enda Kenny	Eamon Gilmore	Dublin	[18]
19th	5 December 2014	Peter Robinson	Martin McGuinness	Enda Kenny	Eamon Gilmore	Armagh	[19]

See also

• British-Irish Council
• British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference
• British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly
• Northern Ireland Assembly
• North/South Inter-Parliamentary Association

External links

• North/South Ministerial Council official website