DUP to address inter-parliamentary body

Four members of Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party are to join politicians from across Ireland and Britain for the first time later this month at a major conference in Kerry.

The party has never before taken part in a meeting of the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body (BIIPB), despite seats being reserved for it when it was founded 16 years ago.

The DUP delegation will be led by the party’s deputy leader, Peter Robinson, and includes three other Westminster MPs, Iris Robinson, Nigel Dodds and Jeffrey Donaldson.

They are expected to make an hour-long formal presentation to the body on Monday, April 24.

A party spokesman confirmed the DUP delegation would make a presentation at the event, similar to those it had delivered in other parts of Ireland and Britain, but would not be taking up its seats.

“The party’s policy has not changed. We don’t take our seats on the body,” he added.

The 68-member body will meet for its 32nd plenary session in the Brehon Hotel, Killarney, Co Kerry, from April 23 to 24.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern is to deliver the keynote address on behalf of the Government during the conference.

The BIIPB’s Irish co-chairman, Dublin North-West Fianna Fáil TD Pat Carey, said the conference, which Northern issues will again dominate, was taking place at a crucial time in Irish-British relations, following recent developments in the North.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair unveiled their blueprint for the way forward last week in Armagh, announcing the recall of the Northern Assembly next month.

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

Its British co-chairman is Labour MP and former Northern Secretary Paul Murphy.

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