North/South Ministerial Council
May 2006
The Food Safety and Health sector has to date met five times. The last meeting was held in Armagh City Hotel, Armagh on Friday, 28 June 2002. It discussed the areas for co-operation identified as priorities at previous meetings, which were Accident and Emergency Services, Planning for Major Emergencies, Co-operation on High Technology Equipment, Cancer Research and Health Promotion.
The North/South Ministerial Council has not met formally since suspension.
Background
The North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC), established by international agreement between the British and Irish Governments, came into being on 2 December 1999. Implementation bodies were formed to put into practice the policies agreed by Ministers within the NSMC, and are funded by the relevant government departments, North and South. There are also six areas of co-operation, of which one is health.
The North/South Ministerial Council meets in Sectoral Format to oversee co-operation in the agreed 12 Areas or Sectors. The NSMC meets regularly in relation to each of the 12 Sectors. In six of these Sectors, co-operation is taken forward by means of the new North/South Bodies and in the six Areas of Co-operation by means of existing mechanism in each jurisdiction separately, generally through appropriate Government Departments or Agencies.
At these Sectoral Meetings of the NSMC, the Irish Government is represented by the Minister or the Minister of State responsible for that Sector, while the Northern Ireland Administration is represented by two Ministers nominated by the First Minster and Deputy First Minister on a cross-community basis, one normally being the Minister with responsibility for that Area within the Executive. This is in line with the requirements of the Agreement and the Northern Ireland Act 1998 that participation by the Executive in the NSMC must be on a cross-community basis.
The Implementation body for health is The Food Safety Promotion Board. The NSMC Sector for health is called The Food safety and Health Sector.
.