Plenary Joint Communiqué 21 January 2011

• At the Trade and Business Development meeting in November 2010, the EU Commissioner on Innovation Máire Geoghegan-Quinn offered Ministers her continuing support for their work in promoting the innovation agenda.  InterTradeIreland will dedicate resources specifically to increase cross-border collaborative participation in FP7.
  
• The new dual carriageway close to Newry was opened in July 2010 and development work has continued on the A5 (North West Gateway to Aughnacloy) and A8 (Belfast to Larne).  These developments, along with progress already made in the overall motorway network in Ireland, will ensure greater road connectivity across the island.
• Provisional figures indicate significant reductions in the number of road deaths in both jurisdictions. Initiatives taken forward with the GAA and the Young Farmers' Clubs of Ulster (YFCU) have assisted in the delivery of road safety messages.
  
• The innovative North South Child Protection Hub was launched in November 2010 and the Child Protection Communication Strategy and Communiqué which will promote public awareness and assist everyone in their duty to safeguard children was also launched.
  
• Progress has continued on the All-Island Action Plan on Suicide Prevention, the establishment of the new media monitoring service in Northern Ireland and the completion of the all-island evaluation of Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training.  A new action, “Suicide and the Economic Situation” has been included in the Action Plan
  
• The development of a new satellite Radiotherapy Centre at Altnagelvin Hospital to which the Irish Government has agreed to provide a capital and revenue contribution, is continuing.  Approximately one third of patients who will attend the Altnagelvin Centre will be from Donegal and the surrounding areas.  The Executive Finance Minister in his statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly on the Executive’s draft budget indicated that this key project will be able to proceed.
  
• The PEACE III Programme has approved 126 projects worth €207 million while the INTERREG IVA Programme has approved 49 projects worth €153 million.  Total expenditure on both programmes to date is €95.15 million, significantly above the cumulative target to end 2010.
  
• A 2010/11 Action Plan for the All-Island Animal Health and Welfare Strategy and a work programme to take a joint strategic approach to plant health and pesticides have been put in place. There has been ongoing co-operation in dealing with a number of outbreaks of Phytophthora ramorum in Japanese larch forests.
  
• The Rural Enabler Project, with approved funding of £2.7m under the PEACE III Programme, was endorsed by Ministers.  
  
• A comprehensive and collaborative programme of work has been developed focusing on the early and continuing professional development of Irish Medium teachers.
  
• Collaborative work is also continuing on literacy and numeracy.  A joint report by the two Education Inspectorates -  How to Promote Literacy and Numeracy in our Schools -  was published in December 2010.
  
• Illegally dumped waste at the sites in Slattinagh, Fermanagh and Trillick in Co. Tyrone has been removed.  Following an evaluation, work will commence on the remaining 15 sites.   Joint concerted enforcement actions to target shipments of waste are ongoing.
  
• The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) are collaborating with a view to accessing funding for priority environmental research under the Seventh Framework (FP7), INTERREG and LIFE+ programmes.
  
• The restoration of the Royal Canal to reconnect it to the Shannon has been completed and a preferred route for the Clones to Upper Lough Erne section of the Ulster Canal has been identified.