Ministers to meet for economic talks

Tánaiste and Enterprise Minister Mary Coughlan will discuss the economy with Irish and British politicians in Co Donegal tomorrow.

TDs, MPs, MLA and members of the House of Lords are attending the British-Parliamentary Assembly (Bipa).

Politicians will also discuss a special motion condemning the murders of British soldiers Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar and PSNI officer Stephen Carroll.

The motion is being moved by Fianna Fáil TD Niall Blaney, co-chair of the Assembly and seconded by former Northern Ireland Secretary of State Peter Hain.

Delegates at Solis Lough Eske Castle Hotel near Donegal will also debate issues around the 1998 Omagh bombing and efforts to address the legacy of the Troubles.

The 38th plenary session will also include parliamentarians from Wales, Scotland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

Bipa members will discuss calls for the British government to release all intelligence files in relation to the Omagh bombing, which killed 29 people.

Other issues tabled for discussion include renewable energy, national ID cards and the integration of migrant workers.

Stormont’s minister for finance and personnel and DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds will be present to address the Bipa as well as Ulster Unionist Party deputy leader Danny Kennedy.

Unionists boycotted the Bipa for almost 20 years until a number of politicians including Lord Maginnis, a former Ulster Unionist MP, attended the previous plenary session in Newcastle in November.

Bipa, formerly the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body, was established in 1990 as a link between Westminster and Dublin.

It originally had 25 British and 25 Irish members drawn from the upper and lower houses of both Parliaments but its membership has been extended to include representatives from the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Welsh Assembly, the Scottish Parliament, the Isle of Man and Channel Islands.