Published on
Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald meets with David Ford, Northern Ireland Minister of Justice
Minister Fitzgerald and Minister Ford pose for photo's at the Department of Justice, Dublin.
Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald and the Northern Ireland Minister of Justice, David Ford met in Dublin today. This was their first meeting since Minister Fitzgerald's appointment as Minister for Justice and Equality.
The Ministers met to discuss ongoing North-South co-operation under the Intergovernmental Agreement on Co-operation on Criminal Justice Matters.
Minister Fitzgerald expressed her support for the close working relationship between all aspects of the criminal justice systems North and South:
The continued improvement of North-South co-operation in policing and criminal justice remains a priority. There is a high degree of productive co-operation at all levels between our criminal justice systems. We face the same challenges in both parts of the island in combating crime, managing offenders and supporting victims, and it makes sense for us to co-operate in coming up with solutions to deal with them. I look forward to continuing this positive working relationship as we seek to make the island of Ireland safer for all communities.
The Ministers reviewed the range of ongoing cross-Border initiatives in the areas of Youth Justice, Probation, Forensic Science, Registered Offenders and Criminal Justice and Social Diversity, and they established a Programme to take forward work in these areas for the coming year.
Read the full press release
here.