§ Mr. Stratton Millsasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on progress on the joint working party set up at the Sunning-dale meeting to define and agree the areas of common interest to be dealt with by the Council of Ireland; what is the membership of the working party; and when it plans to meet.
§ Mr. van StraubenzeeIt was agreed at the Sunningdale conference that studies would be set in hand to identify and report on areas of common interest in relation to which a Council of Ireland would take executive decisions. There 467W are no proposals at present to set up a formal working party, but officials of United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland Departments have had an exploratory meeting.