Debate contribution: North/South Ministerial Council: Health and Food Safety

Debate contribution by Mr Mike Nesbitt on 20 May 2025.

MLA

Mr Mike Nesbitt

Party at the time

Ulster Unionist Party

Date

20 May 2025

Type

Debate contribution (made as a minister)

Business

Ministerial Statement

Heading

North/South Ministerial Council: Health and Food Safety

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4963776

Read the official Assembly record

Text

In compliance with section 52 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, I wish to make the following statement on the twenty-sixth North/South Ministerial Council (NSMC) meeting in the health and food safety sectoral format, which was held in Armagh on Wednesday last, 14 May 2025. I was joined at the meeting by junior Minister Aisling Reilly MLA, who attended as the accompanying Minister. Jennifer Carroll MacNeill TD, Minister for Health, and Norma Foley TD, Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, represented the Government of Ireland. Minister Carroll MacNeill chaired the meeting. This statement has been agreed with junior Minister Reilly, and I make it on behalf of both of us.

On health, the Council welcomed the progress that has been made to date in implementing the Council's current work programme in the health sector. Ministers noted that both Health Departments have engaged on additional areas that have potential for further development and collaboration between the health authorities in both jurisdictions. That work is to ensure that the work programme reflects the priorities of each Administration and that a refreshed work programme will be presented at the next health and food safety sectoral meeting. I also took the opportunity to reiterate the benefit of enhancing practical North/South health cooperation and the value that it would have in sustaining and enhancing services in the border region. In receiving an update on cooperation between the two Departments, the Council noted the ongoing collaboration on issues connected with alcohol and drug use, such as the sharing of learnings through the North/South alcohol policy advisory group; that work on suicide prevention initiatives in both jurisdictions is ongoing, including the exploration of potential opportunities for further joint working to prevent suicide; an update on the all-island congenital heart disease network; an update on cross-border emergency planning and response, where both Health Departments will work collaboratively to seek ways in which to further cooperate in emergency planning and response; the ongoing work between the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and the National Ambulance Service; that the all-island medication safety conference took place in November 2024, with a further one planned in 2026; the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Medicines Optimisation Innovation Centre and the Health Innovation Hub Ireland; and that funding of just over €85 million has been awarded to 10 projects under PEACE PLUS to target health inequalities among communities in Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland. In relation to cancer, the Council noted the valuable services provided to children and their families by the Cancer Fund for Children and welcomed the progression of the Daisy Lodge therapeutic centre at Cong in County Mayo. Ministers welcomed the awarding of five research grants under the Ireland-Northern Ireland-US National Cancer Institute Cancer Consortium, which will enhance collaboration and innovation amongst cancer researchers and experts across the three jurisdictions. The Council noted the continuing efforts and engagement to improve cancer research and clinical trials on an island-of-Ireland scale and the benefits for patients from the ongoing cooperation and expansion of radiotherapy services at Altnagelvin Area Hospital. Ministers welcomed further cooperation on services provided through the North West Cancer Centre, the collaboration by both jurisdictions in working together to develop projects to improve cancer services for patients across both jurisdictions, and efforts to work together to develop a concept as a collaborative project. The Council noted the existing work of the health sector in supporting biodiversity throughout its estates; the opportunity for the health sector to promote the physical and mental health co-benefits of actions to support biodiversity and address climate change; and the intention of both Departments to develop guidance and awareness-raising materials to support the promotion of biodiversity by both Departments and to report this at the next NSMC sectoral meeting. Ministers received a presentation from the Institute of Public Health (IPH) on the policy interface between Ireland and Northern Ireland, with case studies from tobacco control, breastfeeding and data infrastructure. The Council noted that the IPH is working through evidence, policy and partnership to improve health equity and reduce health inequalities in Ireland and Northern Ireland, and noted opportunities for future cooperation between the two jurisdictions. The Council approved the child protection work programme for 2025-28. It is focused on knowledge exchange on child welfare and protection developments; the identification and sharing of information on emerging complex child welfare protection issues and the consideration of their impact on cross-border working; and ongoing cross-border cooperation in relation to child welfare and protection. Ministers noted that the knowledge exchange forum, which brings together child protection practitioners from both jurisdictions, continues to meet to share information in the critical area of social work practice within child protection services. Ministers also noted that there has been significant awareness-raising work in both jurisdictions on the need for the dual registration of social workers in relation to children's cases with a cross-border dimension. Let me now turn to food safety. The Council noted the progress report containing Safefood’s high-level achievements since the previous health and food safety sectoral meeting. They include its new food environment campaign 2024-28 to protect children’s health. That campaign was launched in June 2024 in partnership with the Departments of Health in both jurisdictions, the Public Health Agency (PHA), the Health Service Executive (HSE), the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA). Noted high-level achievements also include the ongoing Safefood for Business training resources that Safefood provides for businesses across the island of Ireland that produce or sell food, about 80% of which are small food businesses; and the new extended 2025-28 community food initiatives programme that was developed in order to positively influence healthy eating habits, in low-income families especially, through the promotion of greater access to and availability of healthy and safe food, using a community development approach. The next noted high-level achievements are the food safety, nutrition and healthy eating promotion work that is done by Safefood through its various food safety and nutrition programmes and networks; and the research carried out by Safefood on a range of topics, including consumers’ use of smart devices, food poverty and food safety advice for vulnerable patients and residents in healthcare settings. The Council approved Safefood’s business plans for 2019, 2020, 2022 and 2023 along with the associated budget and grant provision for each. It approved Safefood’s revised business plan for 2024 and noted the revised budget and grant provision. It also approved Safefood’s business plan for 2025 and recommended the associated budget and grant provision. Ministers noted Safefood’s corporate plans for 2020-22 and 2023-25 and the fact that, having been certified by the Comptrollers and Auditors General (C&AGs) in both jurisdictions, its annual report and accounts for 2023 have been laid before the Northern Ireland Assembly and both Houses of the Oireachtas. The Council also approved the appointment of 11 members to the Safefood advisory committee. The Council noted the Safefood presentation on the new community food initiative programme, which will run from 2025 to 2028. The aim of the programme is to positively influence the eating habits of people in low-income communities. Finally, the Council agreed that the next NSMC health and food safety meeting will be held in autumn 2025.

I thank the Member for the question and for that focus on suicide. He is well aware, as are other Members, that we are long past the point at which the number of lives lost to suicide in this jurisdiction since the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement in 1998 well exceeded the number of those who lost their life in conflict-related incidents during what we so euphemistically call the Troubles. At the moment, we are at the stage of sharing information to try to get a better understanding of what is going on. For example, we understand that there is a link between areas of deprivation and rates of attempted and completed suicide. That sharing of information is very important. I have heard of the tracker to which the Member referred, but I think that there is an issue with it here and do not want to try to recall from memory exactly why that is the case. Let me take that away and come back to you, please.

I thank the Member for his question. Before I went to Armagh that day, I was at Croke Park in Dublin for an all-island cancer summit, at which a lot of emphasis was placed on collaboration on the island, not just on research but on clinical trials. We are potentially missing a trick when it comes to clinical trials. We do clinical trials, but there is the potential to do a lot more of them. Given the population and the size of the island, we are pretty ideally placed to do clinical trials on an all-island basis, and I am keen that we do them. The Member will be aware of the work of people such as Professor Mark Lawler and Professor Deirdre Heenan in this jurisdiction. I was encouraged by what I heard at that summit at Croke Park — it was an inaugural summit and very well attended — and I look forward to building on it through the work of not just the North/South Ministerial Council but the two Departments, North and South.

I thank the Member for her focus. Sorry, no pun intended. Daisy Lodge in Newcastle is a fantastic facility, and I really enjoyed my visit there. Apart from anything else, the location and the views are absolutely magnificent, and it is a calming environment for young children and their families. To see that replicated in Cong in County Mayo will be fantastic. When it comes to the support that I can give, I will broaden that to include the community and voluntary sector. We could not deliver health and social care, imperfect as it is, in the manner in which we do without the support of that sector, including organisations such as Cancer Focus. Sadly, we will never have enough funds to give such organisations the maximum amount of money that they could use to maximise their ability to deliver. I can say only that I absolutely recognise the invaluable work that they do for health and social care delivery and promise that, in my days, I will do my utmost to support them, by which I mean support not with warm words but with finance.

I thank the Member for his question, but I cannot get into detail, because I do not have the full detail in front of me, and I am cautious because I may get as far as seven out of the 10 projects and leave some out. I can tell him, however, that all the projects are worthwhile. The Member is aware that I have a focus on health inequalities. The measure that I want to use to judge whether we are making a positive impact is healthy life expectancy. The Member will also know about the most shocking divergence that has been found by that measure, which is between two females who are born in Belfast and grow up a mile apart, one in the area of most deprivation and the other in the area of least deprivation. Their healthy life expectancy will vary by 14·1 years. That is utterly shocking. I will certainly write to the Member about the 10 projects that will get the €85 million of PEACE PLUS funding.

I assure the Member that I believe that that is the case. I have now met Jennifer Carroll MacNeill on two occasions. We had a bilateral in Dublin before we visited the new children's hospital, which is an amazing facility. The scale of it is remarkable. Unfortunately, it has faced the same sorts of financial challenges that the maternity hospital at the Royal Victoria Hospital has faced. In talking to the Minister, I could see her determination to make sure that that hospital is up and running as soon as possible. We found a lot of common ground. The issue on which we found the most common ground regarding where we want to go was health inequalities. We are only in the foothills of that, so I do not want to raise expectations, but the Minister mentioned something to me, and we went into quite a detailed discussion about health inequalities. They are the same, whether you are talking about Coleraine, Limerick, Dublin, Belfast, Derry — you name it. I hope that, within the mandate, we will make a pitch to the Shared Island Fund for an initiative that could make a real difference in people's lives.

2,101 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:32 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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