A
study by Professor Brigid Laffan and Dr Diane Payne of
the Institute for British-Irish Studies at University
College Dublin, which analyses the interaction between
the new North/South institutions set up under the Good
Friday Agreement - notably the North/South Ministerial
Council and the Special EU Programmes Body - and the
EU's funding programme for cross-border co-operation,
INTERREG. Among the report's conclusions are:
- Despite
the crisis-prone nature of the peace process,
the North/South institutions set up under the Good
Friday Agreement "have
the capacity to deliver the objective of routine
public policy making between North and South."
- The
greatest potential for the Special EU Programmes Body
to play an all-island role lies in the Common Chapter
of the two jurisdictions' 2000-2006 development plans.
- A
significant new player in the border region will be
the three cross-border local authority networks known
as the Border Corridor Groups, which will get significant
funding from the INTERREG III programme.
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