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Issues surrounding the political instability in Northern Ireland will be discussed at a\ngovernmental forum for Anglo Irish co-operation, the Foreign Affairs Minister has said.<\/p>\n
Issues surrounding the political instability in Northern Ireland will be discussed at a
\ngovernmental forum for Anglo Irish co-operation, the Foreign Affairs Minister has said.<\/p>\n
T\u00e1naiste Simon Coveney said that while the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference (BIIC) doesn\u2019t have the capacity to \u201csolve everything\u201d, it was still a significant forum.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the D\u00e1il, Mr Coveney said that he and British Cabinet Office Minister David Lidington will chair the conference later this month.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in president Mary Lou McDonald told the D\u00e1il that the focus of the conference should be on the outstanding issues preventing the re-establishment of the Northern Ireland Executive.<\/p>\n
Mr Coveney responded: \u201cOn the agenda, which has not been finalized yet, we will see a number of East\/West issues being discussed, particularly around security issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be discussing issues in relation to political instability in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s important people understand why the BIIC is significant \u2013 this is a structure of the Good Friday Agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt doesn\u2019t have the capacity to solve everything. On some issues it\u2019s a consultative body, on other issues it is more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Irish and UK governments announced last week that the BIIC will reconvene, 11 years since its last meeting.<\/p>\n
The conference is to meet in London on July 25, 18 months after devolved government imploded in Belfast.<\/p>\n
The mechanism gives Irish politicians a consultative role on non-devolved issues affecting Northern Ireland. It last met in 2007.<\/p>\n
The prospect of a return of the forum has proved controversial.<\/p>\n
Sinn F\u00e9in and the SDLP have long been calling for its re-establishment as a way to inject fresh impetus into the stalled political process in the region.<\/p>\n
But unionists have been wary amid concerns of handing too much influence to the Dublin government.<\/p>\n
Last week, DUP leader Arlene Foster dismissed the upcoming conference as a \u201ctalking shop\u201d and insisted it did not have any decision-making powers.<\/p>\n