Local Government and Transport Committee, 06 Mar 2007
Meeting date: Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Official Report
222KB pdf
British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body
The next item on the agenda is consideration of a letter from the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body, which seeks to arrange a meeting between this committee and the committees with responsibility for transport in Dáil Éireann, the House of Commons and the National Assembly for Wales in order to discuss freight and transport links between Ireland and Great Britain.
Such a discussion would be welcome, of course, but we are close to the dissolution of our Parliament and it would be difficult to arrange a meeting in the time that is available to us. Further, it would probably be of more use to the members who form the Parliament after the election.
I recommend that we write to the BIIPB and suggest that the meeting should take place after the 2007 elections, in order that further progress can be made on the issues and so that relations can be cemented between the various Parliaments and bodies.
Do members have any views?
As the note to the committee says, I am a member of the BIIPB, although I am not present at the current plenary session—indeed, I am present at today's meeting to represent Mr McLetchie, who is attending that session.
The BIIPB committee system moves at a somewhat slow pace. I do not think that anyone will be particularly perturbed that you are suggesting that we cannot meet within the next three to four weeks. Even though the letter that we received demonstrates that the BIIPB thinks that we are an assembly rather than a parliament, I think that the people involved will be aware that we, like the National Assembly for Wales, face elections and that the future of the Northern Ireland Assembly is still in the balance. I am sure that the BIIPB will be happy to accept your suggestion that the meeting should take place in the fullness of time.
The meeting concerns issues of importance. The BIIPB began an investigation of trans-European networks and vehicle movements between Northern Ireland and Scotland, but—to the disadvantage of Scotland—that report was never concluded. It would be useful for the meeting to take place and for the body to consider in the round the issues that will arise from it. Many of the issues that affect the south-west of Scotland in particular would be best viewed within a United Kingdom context, which involves several legislative and executive capacities, rather than in an exclusively Scottish context. A heightened awareness of the flow of traffic from Northern Ireland into Scotland, England and along the trans-European network would be useful to all of the political bodies involved. I am keen that the meeting should take place, but I fully agree that it cannot take place in this parliamentary session.
I will write to the convener of the Joint Committee on Transport in the Dáil—
Dale?
I apologise for my pronunciation. I will write to him to outline our suggestion about when the meeting should take place and copy the letter to the relevant committees in the House of Commons and the National Assembly for Wales. We will include the issue in our legacy paper to whatever committee of the Scottish Parliament deals with transport issues after the 2007 elections.
I will also draw the attention of the other transport committees to the freight transport inquiry that we undertook earlier in the year. If they wish to, they can peruse the report that we produced and learn about the issues that this committee felt were important from a Scottish perspective.
Do members agree with my suggestion?
Members indicated agreement.