Ireland - All-island Institutions

All-island Institutions

Since 1922, Ireland has been partitioned between two political entities:

• The Republic of Ireland, formed as the Irish Free State on 6 December 1922, a sovereign state that covers five-sixths of the island. Its capital is Dublin.
• Northern Ireland, established on 3 May 1921, a part of the United Kingdom that covers the remaining portion of the island. Its capital is Belfast, with the capital of the United Kingdom being at London, England.

The North/South Ministerial Council, established under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, is an institution through which ministers from the Government of Ireland and the Northern Ireland Executive agree all-island policies. At least six of these policy areas must have an associated all-island "implementation bodies" and at least six others must be implemented separately in each jurisdiction. For example, food safety is managed on an all-island basis by the Food Safety Promotion Board and Waterways Ireland is responsible for the maintenance and development of certain inland waterways on the island of Ireland. On the other hand, the two jurisdictions have common health and transport policies but these are implemented separately by already-existing bodies in each jurisdiction.

The current six areas for co-operations, implemented separately, are:

• Agriculture
• Education
• Environment
• Health
• Tourism, including Tourism Ireland
• Transport

The current six all-island implementation bodies are:

• Waterways Ireland
• Food Safety Promotion Board
• InterTradeIreland
• Special European Union Programmes Body
• The North/South Language Body
• Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission

Further development of the role and function of the Council are possible "with the specific endorsement of the Northern Ireland Assembly and Oireachtas, subject to the extent of the competences and responsibility of the two Administrations."

The North/South Ministerial Council and the Northern Ireland Assembly are defined in the Good Friday Agreement as being "mutually inter-dependent, and that one cannot successfully function without the other." Participation in the Council is a requisite for the operation of the Northern Ireland Assembly and participation in the Northern Ireland Executive. When devolution in Northern Ireland is suspended, the powers of the Northern Ireland Executive revert to the British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference.

The British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference provides for co-operation between the Government of Ireland and the Government of the United Kingdom on all matter of mutual interest, especially Northern Ireland. In light of Ireland's particular interest in the governance of Northern Ireland, "regular and frequent" meetings co-chaired by the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs and the UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, dealing with non-devolved matters to do with Northern Ireland and non-devolved all-Ireland issues, are required to take place under the establishing treaty.

There is no joint parliamentary forum for the island of Ireland, like there is between the UK and Ireland as a whole. However, under the Good Friday Agreement, the Oireachtas and Northern Ireland Assembly are asked to consider developing one. The Agreement also contains a suggestion for the creation of a consultative forum composed of members of civil society from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Under the 2007, St. Andrew's Agreement, the Northern Ireland Executive agreed to support the establishment of a North/South Consultative Forum and to encourage parties in the Northern Ireland Assembly to support the creation of a North/South parliamentary forum.

Three major political parties, Sinn Féin, the Irish Green Party and, most recently, Fianna Fáil, and several smaller parties are organised on an all-island basis. However, only Sinn Féin and the Greens have contested elections and have held legislative seats in both jurisdictions. The two jurisdictions share transport, telecommunications, energy and water systems. With a few notable exceptions, the island is the main organisational unit for major religious, cultural and sporting organisations.