Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-02-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Dunlop on 9 February (HL5480), why that answer does not list (1) the precise dates in 2007 on which the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference met; (2) the specific topics discussed on each date; (3) who attended each meeting; and (4) what actions were taken as a result of each meeting.

Lord Dunlop

The British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference met on one occasion during 2007, 26 February in Dundalk. This was the last time that the body met.

Details of Ministerial attendees and the topics discussed were published in a Joint Communiqué between the two Governments. A copy of this has been placed in the Library (along with copies of all other Joint Communiques published since 1998).

Although a range of issues were discussed, no formal actions were listed. The focus however at the time was the drive towards devolution and the Conference urged all political leaders to act with courage and determination in order to attain this. Assembly elections subsequently took place in May 2007.