Culture Minister Caral Ni Chuilin made a statement on a recent meeting of the North South Ministerial Council (NSMC) on inland waterways, on 22 January 2013.

Ms Ni Chuilin said that John Martin, the chief executive of Waterways Ireland, informed them of a number of significant achievements.

She said these included 99% of waterways remaining open from April to October.

The minister also said they were told there had been 94 sponsored events to promote the awareness of waterways that were attended by about 1.1m people and which had brought an estimated value to the economy of more than 85m euros.

In response to a question from Ulster Unionist Michael McGimpsey, the minister said that she would write to him with details of how many of these events took place in Northern Ireland.