Minister Foley and Minister Naughton welcome prospect of enhancing North South engagement on education

Minister for Education, Norma Foley TD and Minister of State for Special Education and Inclusion Hildegarde Naughton TD have today welcomed the prospect of enhancing North South engagement on education.

The announcement follows from today’s North South Ministerial Council Education Sectoral (NSMC) meeting, at which Minister Foley and Minister Naughton had the opportunity to discuss cross-border collaboration with the Northern Ireland Executive’s Minister for Education Paul Givan MLA and Finance Minister Caoimhe Archibald MLA.

This was the third NSMC Sectoral meeting since the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive in February.

At the meeting, Ministers agreed a revised NSMC work programme for the Education Sector. Other issues relevant to the sector, including the development of a pilot cooperation programme, supported by the Shared Island Fund, to address educational under achievement and the Middletown Centre for Autism were also discussed.

Following the meeting, Minister Foley said:

“It is very encouraging to see the regular pattern of meetings of the NSMC resuming and allowing us to progress some of the key objectives shared by our two Administrations.

“The Education Sector is an area where the tangible benefits of North/South cooperation to our citizens are very clear.

“Today we agreed to extend the programme of North/South cooperation to important new areas of work, including Digital and Artificial Intelligence and Early Years Education, which are essential to educational outcomes for our children and young people.

“I look forward to continuing to work closely with Minister Givan going forward”.

Minister Naughton said:

“The Middletown Centre for Autism (MCA) is a very strong example of joint North/South work and demonstrates what can be achieved by working together.

“I’d like to thank MCA’s CEO, Stephen Douthart, and the Vice Chairperson Rosemary Steen, for providing Ministers with a very informative presentation.

“I am pleased that today we agreed that our Departments will scope the potential for expansion of the services at Middletown.”