North/South Ministerial Council: Plenary Format

Part of Ministerial Statement – in the Northern Ireland Assembly at 11:00 am on 21 June 2011.

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Photo of Martin McGuinness Martin McGuinness Sinn Féin 11:00, 21 June 2011

I do believe that they provide value for money, and I agree with the Member that they should be subject to efficiency savings, and they are. Decisions on efficiency savings were taken at an earlier stage. The fact that we are meeting consistently at very well-attended meetings under the auspices of the North/South Ministerial Council suggests clearly that the Government in Dublin and our Administration in the North value that contact and the potential that exists in those bodies to ensure that we continually strive to achieve mutual benefit for the people who live on this island, whether they live in the North or in the South. The answer is very clear; we would not be meeting in this format if the institutions were not delivering for our people, North and South.