Lord Laird – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Northern Ireland Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Laird on 2016-02-23.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government why there have been no meetings of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference since 26 February 2007.

Lord Dunlop

There have been no meetings of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference since 26 February 2007 largely because the scope of the BIIGC agenda is now much narrower, given the completion of devolution and the fact that the political situation is more stable. The Conference remains part of the architecture of the Belfast Agreement, but is no longer used as the significant forum it was in the past for interaction between the UK and Irish Governments.

Interaction between the governments of the UK and Ireland takes place regularly at all levels and in many different forums. These include an annual summit between the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach, and regular meetings between the heads of UK and Irish government departments.