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The North/South institutions of the Good Friday Agreement
North/South Ministerial Council and Implementation Bodies
Background Note
Overview
1. Established on 2 December 1999, under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, the North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) brings "together those with executive responsibilities in Northern Ireland and the Irish Government to develop consultation, cooperation and action within the island of Ireland ... on matters of mutual interest within the competenceá of both administrations.
2. The NSMC meets in a number of Formats. It meets in Plenary Format twice yearly, with Northern Ireland representation led by the First Minister and Deputy First Minister and the Irish Government led by the Taoiseach and the Tanáiste. The task of the Plenary is to take an overview of co-operation on the island and of the North/South institutions.
3. The NSMC also meets in Sectoral Formats. There are 12 Sectors in all, each covering one of the 12 Areas agreed in the Good Friday Agreement and in the subsequent negotiations between the two Governments and the Northern Ireland political parties as constituting the remit of the Council1. Under these arrangements, co-operation in regard to six of those Areas is taken forward by means of single all-island Implementation Bodies, and in regard to the other six by means of existing mechanisms in each jurisdiction separately. The NSMC meets in each of the 12 Sectors - roughly three times per year in each case. At these meetings, the Irish Government side is represented by the Minister responsible for that Area, while the Northern Ireland Administration is represented by the Northern counterpart, accompanied by a Minister from the other tradition. To date (end-February 2001), meetings in Sectoral Format and two Plenary meetings had taken place.
4. The Good Friday Agreement also provided for the NSMC to meet in Institutional Format to consider institutional and cross-sectoral issues. The Council has not yet met in this Format, but at the Plenary meeting in Dublin in September 2000, it was anticipated that such a meeting would take place by agreement before the next Plenary (scheduled for March 2001).
5. All NSMC decisions are by agreement between the Northern and Southern sides in the Council and an integral part of the arrangements is a series of checks and balances to ensure that everything is done to facilitate the process of building agreement. An important feature of the Northern Delegation is that its composition is always on a cross-community basis.
6. The Council is supported by a Standing Joint Secretariat in Armagh staffed by members of the Northern Ireland Civil Service and the Irish Civil Service.
Plenary Format
7. At the Inaugural Plenary Meeting, the NSMC adopted a Memorandum of Procedure setting out arrangements for its operation; agreed the location of headquarters and of other offices of the Implementation Bodies; made appointments to the Boards of several of the Bodies; and agreed an outline programme for work in the areas for cooperation.
8. Taking forward the agreed conclusions from the Inaugural Plenary, the second Plenary meeting of the NSMC agreed a wide-ranging number of conclusions including the process of selection/appointment and salary levels of Chief Executives for the Implementation Bodies; remuneration for Board Members of the Bodies, progressing consideration of a study on enhancing competitiveness in the economies, North and South with a view to a report being prepared for the next Plenary meeting of the Council; initiation of studies on (a) an Independent North/South Consultative Forum and (b) Obstacles to Mobility between both parts of the island. The Council further agreed to hold its next meeting in March 2001.
Sectoral Format
9. As mentioned, the NSMC, meeting in Sectoral Format, has responsibility for overseeing co-operation in the 12 Sectors or Areas agreed as constituting the Council's remit. As also outlined above, in six of these Sectors, co-operation is taken forward by means of single, all-island Implementation Bodies (also called Cross-Border Bodies) and in the other six (called Areas for Co-operation) by means of existing mechanisms in each jurisdiction separately. The following notes set out some background on each of the 12 Sectors, covering both the Cross-Border Bodies and the Areas of Co-operation.
The Six Cross-Border Bodies
10. There are six Cross-Border Bodies, operating on an all-island basis.
While having a clear operational remit, all operate under the overall policy
direction of the North/South Ministerial Council, with clear accountability
lines back to the Council and to the Oireachtas and the Northern Ireland
Assembly. The budget for the year 2001 for the Implementation Bodies is
IR£65m (North - IR£15m, South - IR£50m) or Stg£48m (North - Stg£11m, South
- Stg£37m). The following is a brief summary of the role of each Body: |
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