Irish-British body discusses peace process

Members of the Irish-British Inter-Parliamentary Body will be briefed by Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy on the latest developments in the peace process at their twice-yearly conference in Wales tomorrow.

Mr Murphy will deliver the keynote address and take part in a question and answer session with members at the St Pierre Hotel and Country Club in Chepstow.

His speech will focus on the impasse surrounding the Good Friday Agreement and the prospects of restoring the suspended Northern Ireland Assembly

The 68-member body began their three-day 29th plenary session today.

Other issues on the agenda include extending the workplace smoking ban to the UK and the possibility of providing Ireland’s free-transport to Irish OAPs in Britain.

The British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body was formally established in 1990 as a link between Westminster and Dublin, with 25 British and 25 Irish members drawn from the upper and lower houses of both parliaments.

In recent years the membership of the body has been extended to representatives from the Welsh Assembly, the Scottish Parliament, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the Isle of Man and Channel Islands.