British–Irish Council

The British–Irish Council (BIC; Template:Langx) is an intergovernmental organisation that aims to improve collaboration between its members in a number of areas including transport, the environment and energy.<ref>Jesse, Neal G., Williams, Kristen P.: Identity and institutions: conflict reduction in divided societies.Publisher SUNY Press, 2005, page 107. Template:ISBN</ref> Its membership comprises Ireland, the United Kingdom, the devolved governments of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, in addition to the governments of the British Crown Dependencies: Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. As England does not have a devolved administration, it is not individually represented on the council but only as a member of the United Kingdom.<ref>See Vernon Bogdanor, 'The British–Irish Council and Devolution', in Government and Opposition: An International Journal of Comparative Politics, volume 34, issue 3, July 1999, pp.291–295.</ref>

The British and Irish governments, and political parties in Northern Ireland, agreed to form a council under the British–Irish Agreement, part of the Good Friday Agreement reached in 1998. The council was formally established on 2 December 1999, when the Agreement came into effect. The council's stated aim is to "promote the harmonious and mutually beneficial development of the totality of relationships among the peoples of these islands". The BIC has a standing secretariat, located in Edinburgh, Scotland; it meets in semi-annual summits and more frequent ministerial meetings.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Background

The British–Irish Council was established on 10 April 1998 following two years worth of negotiations between the UK and Irish Governments alongside the political parties in Northern Ireland on the terms of the Good Friday Agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, a political organisation was to be established in order to foster and provide opportunities to greater integral working between both the UK and Irish governments, and later the devolved governments of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Multi-Party agreement between both the UK and Irish governments formally came into effect on 2 December 1999.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Since its formation, the heads of governments of the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey have met biannually during the Heads of Administrations summit. The first meeting of the British–Irish council took place on 17 December 1999. The first meeting was hosted by the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Tony Blair in London.<ref name="British Irish Council timeline">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2006, the St. Andrews Agreement was signed in order to establish a standing permanent Secretariat to the British–Irish Council. The establishment of the position was designed to "further the British-Irish Council work". The Permanent Secretariat was established six years later, located in the capital city of Scotland, Edinburgh following an agreement between council members at the summit in 2010 hosted by Guernsey that the Scottish Government would be the Permanent Secretariat host. The Secretariat was formally established in January 2012.<ref name="British Irish Council timeline"/>

In 2023, the summits held in Jersey and the Republic of Ireland marked twenty-five years since the Good Friday Agreement,<ref name="British Irish Council timeline"/> whilst the 42nd summit hosted by Scotland in December 2024 marked twenty-five years since the inaugural meeting of the council.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Overview and structure

File:British Irish Council at Stirling Castle (7420592874).jpg

A British-Irish Council summit hosted by Scotland at Stirling Castle

The nine heads of government meet at summits twice per year. Additionally, there are regular meetings that deal with specific sectors which are attended by the corresponding ministers. Representatives of members operate in accordance with whatever procedures for democratic authority and accountability are in force in their respective elected legislatures.

England, unlike the other countries of the United Kingdom, is not represented separately, as it does not have its own devolved administration. It is thus solely represented on the council as part of the United Kingdom. Although Cornwall technically holds observer status on the Council due to its language, it is also represented by the UK government.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The work of the council is financed by members through mutual agreement as required.<ref>Belfast Agreement Template:Webarchive – Strand Three, Articles 8 and 9.
British-Irish Council website, Frequently Asked Questions: Who pays for the British-Irish Council? Template:Webarchive</ref> At the ninth meeting of the Council in July 2007 it was decided that with devolved government returned to Northern Ireland that an opportune time existed "to undertake a strategic review of the Council's work programmes, working methods and support arrangements." This decision included the potential for a permanent standing secretariat, which was established in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 4 January 2012.

At its June 2010 summit, the Council decided to move forward on recommendations to enhance the relationship between it and the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly (BIPA). The British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly is made up of members from the parliaments and assemblies of the same states and regions as the members of the British–Irish Council. The Council tasked its secretariat with moving this work forward in conjunction with the BIPA's secretariat.

Work areas

File:British-Irish Council (5853340874).jpg

Heads of government gather at the 16th summit held in London, June 2011

The Council agrees to specific work areas for which individual members take responsibility. The Belfast Agreement suggested transport links, agriculture, environmental issues, culture, health, education and approaches to the European Union as suitable topics for early discussion. However, these work areas can be expanded or reduced as the Council decides. It is also open to the council to make agreement on common policies. These agreements are made through consensus, although individual members may opt not to participate in implementing any of these.

The current list of work areas and the member responsible are: Template:Col-begin

• Collaborative spatial planning (Northern Ireland)
• Demography (Scotland)<ref name="Holy"/>
• Digital inclusion (Isle of Man)
• Early years policy (Wales)
• Energy (United Kingdom – Electricity Grids, and Scotland – Marine)
• Environment (United Kingdom)
• Housing (Northern Ireland)
• Indigenous, minority and lesser-used languages (Wales)
• Misuse of Substances (drugs and alcohol) (Ireland)
• Social inclusion (Scotland and Wales)<ref name="Holy"/>
• Transport (Northern Ireland)
• Creative Industries (Jersey)

Demography was adopted as a work area at the 2006 meeting of the council. It was proposed by the Scottish Executive, who also took responsibility for it. During the 2007 meeting of the council the Scottish Government further proposed that energy become a work area of the council. Past work sector areas included knowledge economy, e-health / telemedicine and tourism.

Membership and operation

Members and advisors

Member name	Symbols		Parliament	Membership	Membership status	Represented since
	Arms	Flag
United Kingdom	Template:Coat of arms	Template:Flag icon	Parliament of the United Kingdom	full	sovereign state	1999
Ireland	Template:Coat of arms	Template:Flag icon	Oireachtas
Scotland	Template:Coat of arms	Template:Flag icon	Scottish Parliament		devolved government
Wales	Template:Arms	Template:Flag icon	Senedd
Northern Ireland	-	-	Northern Ireland Assembly
Jersey	Template:Coat of arms	Template:Flag icon	States Assembly		crown dependency
Isle of Man	Template:Coat of arms	Template:Flag icon	Tynwald
Guernsey	Template:Coat of arms	Template:Flag icon	States of Guernsey

Advisor name	Symbols		Body	Advisor	Advisor status	Represented since
	Arms	Flag
Cornwall	File:Arms of Cornwall Council.svg	Template:Flag icon	Cornwall Council	Advisor on Cornish language	English unitary authority	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Current leaders

Membership of the Council consists of the following administrations (with current heads of administrations as of August 2025):

Member	Representative(s)			Title
United Kingdom	style="background-color: Template:Party color"|	File:Keir Starmer official portrait.jpg	Keir Starmer Template:Small	Prime Minister
Ireland	style="background:Template:Party color;"|	File:Micheál Martin TD (cropped).jpg	Micheál Martin Template:Small	Taoiseach
Scotland	style="background:Template:Party color"|	File:John Swinney - First Minister (53720492021) (cropped).jpg	John Swinney Template:Small	First Minister
Wales	style="background:Template:Party color"|	File:Official photograph of First Minister Eluned Morgan MS (Portrait) (cropped).jpg	Eluned Morgan Template:Small	First Minister
Northern IrelandTemplate:Efn	style="background:Template:Party color" |	File:O’Neill and Little-Pengelly, March 2024 (cropped).jpg	Michelle O'Neill MLA<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref>	First Minister
	style="background:Template:Party color" |	File:Little-Pengelly and O'Neill, March 2024 (cropped).jpg	Emma Little-Pengelly MLA	deputy First Minister
Jersey	style="background:Template:Party color"|	File:Farnham after 2024 CM election.png	Deputy Lyndon Farnham	Chief Minister
Isle of Man	style="background:Template:Party color"|	File:Official Portrait of Alfred Cannan, 2023.jpg	Alfred Cannan Template:Small	Chief Minister
Guernsey		File:Guernseys finansminister Lyndon Trott vid Nordiska radets session i Helsingfors 2008-10-28 (cropped).jpg	Deputy Lyndon Trott	Chief Minister

Name of the Council

Initial suggestions for the council included the names Council of the British Isles<ref>UDP proposes creation of British Isles council Template:Webarchive, Irish Times, 30 May 1996</ref> or Council of the Isles,<ref>The British-Irish Council: Nordic Lessons for the Council of the Isles Template:Webarchive, Mads Qvortrup and Robert Hazell, The Constitution Unit, October 1998</ref> and the council has sometimes been known by the latter name. However, owing to sensitivities around the term British Isles, particularly in Ireland, the name British–Irish Council was agreed.

The official name of the council is represented in minority and lesser-used languages of the council as: Template:Col-begin Template:Col-2

• Template:Langx<ref name="British-Irish Council – Kernowek">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Guernésiais: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
• Template:Langx<ref>1/1999: AN tACHT UM CHOMHAONTÚ NA BREATAINE-NA hÉIREANN, 1999</ref>
• Jèrriais: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}
• Template:Langx

• Template:Langx
• Template:Langx
• Ulster-Scots: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

• Template:Langx

Summits

Number	Date	Host	Host leader(s)	Location held	Communique/reference
1st	17 December 1999	United Kingdom	Tony Blair	London	[1]
2nd	30 November 2001	Ireland	Bertie Ahern	Dublin	[2]
3rd	14 June 2002	Jersey	Pierre Horsfall	Saint Helier	[3]
4th	22 November 2002	Scotland	Jack McConnell	New Lanark	[4]
5th	28 November 2003	Wales	Rhodri Morgan	St Fagans National History Museum, Cardiff	[5]
6th	28 November 2004	Guernsey	Laurie Morgan	Castle Cornet	[6]
7th	20 May 2005	Isle of Man	Donald Gelling	Villa Marina, Douglas	[7]
8th	2 June 2006	United Kingdom	John Prescott	ExCeL Conference Centre, London	[8]
9th	16 July 2007	Northern Ireland	Ian Paisley Martin McGuinness	Parliament Buildings, Belfast	[9]
10th	14 February 2008	Ireland	Bertie Ahern	Royal Hospital Kilmainham, Dublin	[10]
11th	26 September 2008	Scotland	Alex Salmond	Hopetoun House, South Queensferry	[11]
12th	20 February 2009	Wales	Rhodri Morgan	SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff	[12]
13th	13 November 2009	Jersey	Terry Le Sueur	Radisson Hotel, Saint Helier	[13]
14th	25 June 2010	Guernsey	Lyndon Trott	Fermain Valley Hotel, Saint Peter Port	[14]
15th	13 December 2010	Isle of Man	Tony Brown	Sefton Hotel, Douglas	[15]
16th	20 June 2011	United Kingdom	Nick Clegg	Lancaster House, London	[16]
17th	13 January 2012	Ireland	Enda Kenny	Dublin Castle, Dublin	[17]
18th	22 June 2012	Scotland	Alex Salmond	Stirling Castle, Stirling	[18]
19th	26 November 2012	Wales	Carwyn Jones	Cardiff Castle, Cardiff	[19]
20th	21 June 2013	Northern Ireland	Peter Robinson Martin McGuinness	Magee College, Derry	[20]
21st	15 November 2013	Jersey	Ian Gorst	L’Horizon Hotel, Saint Brélade	[21]
22nd	13 June 2014	Guernsey	Jonathan Le Tocq	St. Pierre Park Hotel, Saint Peter Port	[22]
23rd	28 November 2014	Isle of Man	Allan Bell	Villa Marina Complex, Douglas	[23]
24th	19 June 2015	Ireland	Enda Kenny	Dublin Castle, Dublin	[24]
25th	27 November 2015	United Kingdom	Theresa Villiers	Lancaster House, London	[25]
26th	17 June 2016	Scotland	Nicola Sturgeon	Crowne Plaza Hotel, Glasgow	[26]
27th Extraordinary	22 July 2016	Wales	Carwyn Jones	Cathays Park, Cardiff	[27]
28th	25 November 2016	Wales	Carwyn Jones	Cathays Park, Cardiff	[28]
29th	10 November 2017	Jersey	Ian Gorst	L’Horizon Hotel, St. Brelade	[29]
30th	22 June 2018	Guernsey	Gavin St Pier	St Pierre Park Hotel, Saint Peter Port	[30]
31st	9 November 2018	Isle of Man	Howard Quayle	Isle of Man	[31]
32nd	28 June 2019	United Kingdom	David Lidington	Manchester	[32]
33rd	15 November 2019	Ireland	Leo Varadkar	Dublin	[33]
34th	6 November 2020	Scotland	Nicola Sturgeon	via video conferencing	[30]
35th	11 June 2021	Northern Ireland	Arlene Foster and Michelle O’Neill	Lough Erne resort, Fermanagh	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
36th	19 November 2021	Wales	Mark Drakeford	Cardiff	[31]
37th	8 July 2022	Guernsey	Peter Ferbrache	St. Pierre Park Hotel, Saint Peter Port	[32]
38th	11 November 2022	United Kingdom	Rishi Sunak	Blackpool	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
39th	16 June 2023	Jersey	Kristina Moore	St Brelade	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
40th	24 November 2023	Ireland	Leo Varadkar	Dublin Castle	[33]
41st	21 June 2024	Isle of Man	Alfred Cannan	Isle of Man	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
42nd	5–6 December 2024	Scotland	John Swinney	Edinburgh	citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>

See also

• Council of Ireland
• North/South Ministerial Council
• British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference
• British–Irish Parliamentary Assembly
• Interparliamentary Forum
• Council of Nations and Regions
• East–West Council

External links

• Template:Official website