Leo Varadkar, the taoiseach of Ireland, has made his last visit to Northern Ireland for the North-South Ministerial Council meeting in Armagh. Ministers from both the Northern Ireland Executive parties and the Irish cabinet are attending the meeting. The council has not met in-person since 2020 due to power-sharing being suspended, but it will be hosted and chaired by First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly. Simon Harris, the new Fine Gael leader, is also expected to attend.
Mr Varadkar announced last month that he would step down as Fine Gael leader and taoiseach citing “personal and political reasons.” Mr Harris, set to take over the role of taoiseach on Tuesday, will be replacing Varadkar as Ireland’s youngest prime minister when he was elected at 38 in 2017. Speaking ahead of the meeting, Varadkar said that it was “an honour to lead the Irish delegation of ministers to meet with our Northern Ireland Executive counterparts in my last major engagement as taoiseach.” He also wished the Northern Ireland First Minister and Deputy First Minister well in their roles to achieve the best for all the people of Northern Ireland.
The North-South Ministerial Council was set up under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement to work on “matters of mutual interest” between ministers from Dublin and Stormont. The council covers six areas of co-operation including agriculture, education, environment, health, tourism, and transport. Common policies and approaches are agreed, but implemented separately in each jurisdiction. The meeting comes against the backdrop of the Irish government’s announcement of €800m (£686m) funding for projects in Northern Ireland under the Shared Island initiative.
Discussions at the meeting are likely to focus on trade and business issues, investment in areas of mutual interest, and ongoing cooperation through the restored North-South Ministerial Council and the North-South implementation bodies. The council differs from other cross-government bodies as it only involves north-south co-operation. Ministers met under it regularly as a forum during the coronavirus pandemic to discuss cross-border health policies and ways of managing different Covid regulations
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