THERE WOULD be a “big agenda” for the next plenary meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council in Dublin on June 10th, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said at UCD yesterday.
Speaking to reporters at the annual conference of the Institute for British-Irish Studies, he said the meeting would be a great opportunity for ministers from the new administrations in Dublin and Belfast to have a “real discussion”.
Pledging the Government’s full commitment to the council and good North-South relations, Mr Kenny said it was important “to demonstrate that the expectations of people can be met legitimately through democratic politics”.
Meanwhile the vigilance of the police forces, North and South, had to be at “an all-time high” to deal with the dissident threat.
The achievement of political objectives, on the other hand, could only take place as a result of “having an economy that will work, in terms of job-creation”.
In his address to the conference yesterday, he said: “The Government that I lead is absolutely committed to protecting all of the gains that have flowed from the Good Friday agreement.”
It would “continue working in that regard to bring an ever-closer relationship between communities, North and South”.
He said the North-South Ministerial Council formed under strand two of the Belfast Agreement remained the main forum for advancing North-South economic co-operation. “Cross-Border relations in that regard have never been better or at a higher level.”
He had met or spoken with all the main party leaders in the North and discussed Northern Ireland and British-Irish relations with prime minister David Cameron three times since becoming Taoiseach and he had also met Northern Ireland Secretary Owen Paterson.
“This will be the first meeting [on June 10th] of the new government and the new Assembly and there are a whole range of issues, relevant to the development of the economies North and South, that we must discuss at that meeting.”
He looked forward to the implementation of “the full range of what is in the Good Friday agreement and the St Andrews Agreement”.
