Organisation
The Ministerial Council consists of representatives of both the Northern Ireland Executive and the Government of the Republic of Ireland. The Ministerial Council may meet in either a plenary or sectoral format. In a plenary meeting a Northern Ireland delegation is led by the First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland while the Republic's delegation is led by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste (the Republic's prime minister and deputy prime minister).
A meeting in a sectoral format deals only with one particular policy area, and consists of the minister from the Republic with responsibility for the area under discussion, and two ministers from Northern Ireland (usually one Unionist and one Nationalist), including the minister with the relevant competence. The Council is supported by a standing Joint Secretariat, consisting of members of the civil services of both Northern Ireland and the Republic.
Read more about this topic: North/South Ministerial Council
Famous quotes containing the word organisation:
“It is because the body is a machine that education is possible. Education is the formation of habits, a superinducing of an artificial organisation upon the natural organisation of the body.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–1895)