The North/South Inter-Parliamentary Association is an inter-parliamentary forum created between the national parliament of the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

(the Oireachtas) and the Northern Ireland Assembly. The association has 48 members, drawn equally from members of the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Oireachtas and will meet twice annually on a rotational basis. The forum is co-chaired by Seán Barrett and

Alex Maskey Alex Maskey (born 8 January 1952) is an Irish politician who has been Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly since 2020 and was the first member of Sinn Féin to serve as Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2002 to 2003. He was Sinn Féin's longest s ...

. Barrett is the Ceann Comhairle ( speaker) of Dáil Éireann (lower house) in the Republic of Ireland. Maskey is the

Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly , insignia = NI_Assembly.svg , insigniasize = 135px , insigniacaption = Logo used to represent the Northern Ireland Assembly , image = File:Alex Maskey.jpg , imagesize = 220px , incumbent = Alex Maskey , incumbentsince = 11 January 2020 , ...

. An

executive committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

of 12 members, six each from the Oireacthas and the Northern Ireland Assembly, sets the agenda for each meeting. The inaugural meeting dealt with the topics of

child protection Child protection is the safeguarding of children from violence, exploitation, abuse, and neglect. Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for the protection of children in and out of the home. One of the ways to e ...

and the Ulster Canal. The second plenary session took place on 26 April 2013 in Belfast. The association was envisioned as part of Strand 2 of the 1998

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...

, which dealt with the relationship between

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, which is part of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and the

, which is an independent state. The two parts of

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

were partitioned in 1920. Under the 1998 Agreement, the two jurisdictions agreed to "consider" an inter-parliamentary forum (and an independent civic forum) alongside the North/South Ministerial Council that was established under the agreement. In 2006, as part of the

St Andrews Agreement The St Andrews Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Chill Rímhinn; Ulster Scots: ''St Andra's 'Greement'', ''St Andrew's Greeance'' or ''St Andrae's Greeance'') is an agreement between the British and Irish governments and Northern Ireland's politica ...

, the

Northern Ireland Executive The Northern Ireland Executive is the devolved government of Northern Ireland, an administrative branch of the legislature – the Northern Ireland Assembly. It is answerable to the assembly and was initially established according to the ...

agreed " twould encourage the parties in the orthern IrelandAssembly to establish" the forum. The formation of the association was marked by a gathering of parliamentarians at Parliament Buildings,

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

, Northern Ireland in July 2012. The first plenary meeting of the association took place on 12 October 2012 in the Seanad (senate) chambers of Leinster House,

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, Republic of Ireland.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:North South Inter-Parliamentary Association Politics of Northern Ireland Politics of the Republic of Ireland Northern Ireland peace process Politics of Ireland All-Ireland organisations Ireland–United Kingdom relations

See also

References

External links