The Committee's report examines the nature of tourism in Northern Ireland, its impact on and importance for the overall economy, and the effectiveness of measures taken by Government and other relevant agencies to develop, promote and support the marketing of Northern Ireland as a tourist destination. The Committee's recommendations are addressed to the Northern Ireland Office (which took back responsibility for tourism in Northern Ireland when the power-sharing executive was suspended in October 2002) but if a power-sharing executive is re-established then responsibility for tourism will revert to the restored Executive and, accordingly, responsibility for scrutiny of this policy area would revert to the Committees of a restored Assembly. The Committee's report makes 27 recommendations to help Northern Ireland maximise its tourist potential, and concludes that if government recognises the enormous economic impact of tourism, and if private enterprise in co-operation with statutory bodies can develop this recognition into a coherent strategy, there is no reason why the success of tourism in the Republic of Ireland should not be replicated in Northern Ireland to the advantage of the whole island of Ireland and with Northern Ireland itself enjoying an equivalent status to Scotland and Wales as a UK tourist destination.

work of the Committee In 2007 : Second report of session 2007-08, report, together with formal Minutes

Incorporating HC 983-i, session 2006-07

With around 1500 prisoners and an estate of three prisons, the Northern Ireland Prison Service is a very small prison service. This inquiry was undertaken to examine whether the estate was adequate and appropriate for the secure accommodation of Northern Ireland's prisoners and whether the Prison Service meets the health, education and training needs of prisoners. One of the main conclusions is that the Current Comprehensive Spending Review does not provide sufficient capital for the substantial redesign of the prison estate. If criminal justice is to be devolved the Committee hope that capital investment in the prison estate will be a priority of the Northern Ireland Executive. If not the Secretary of State will have to argue for an increase in funding.

It has become apparent that Northern Ireland feels left behind in UK broadcasting terms. Levels of production are comparatively low. Northern Ireland producers find it difficult to win commissions from the UK's major broadcast organisations. Digital switchover, already under way in some parts of the UK will not occur in Northern Ireland until 2012. Nor, since UTV remains strong enough to provide news in competition with the BBC, will Northern Ireland benefit from public money proposed for new independently funded news consortia. The evidence the Committee received confirms and demonstrates that Northern Ireland is the least well served of the UK's four nations in terms of network production that reflects and portrays its life and in the amount of network programming produced there. The Committee makes a number of recommendations to remedy this.

The Northern Ireland Affairs Committee today publishes its report on the Consultative Group on the Past in Northern Ireland Report (HCP 171, session 2009-10, ISBN 9780215542687). This report concludes the Committee's inquiry into the feasibility of implementing the proposals made in the Report of the Consultative Group on the Past in Northern Ireland. The Committee reached the following conclusions, including: that Northern Ireland has not yet reached a consensus on how to move on from its recent past; also, it is not clear that Northern Ireland needs a Legacy Commission when bodies such as the Victims and Survivors Commission and the Historical Enquiries Team are already dealing in different ways with aspects of the legacy of the Troubles; that healthcare services, particularly mental health services, for those affected by the Troubles are under strong pressure; that any future Legacy Commission should be chaired, or co-chaired, by figures from Northern Ireland rather than by a foreign figurehead; that the Northern Ireland Assembly, rather than the UK Government, should ultimately be responsible for decisions on how to fund a Legacy Commission - and therefore on the width of its remit; and that clarification is required on what role the Irish Government would play in setting up such a Commission, and in particular on what financial contribution it would be expected to make.

On Saturday 15 August 1998, a car bomb exploded in Omagh, County Tyrone, killing 29 people and two unborn children. No one has been successfully convicted of this mass murder. This report considers events on and after the day of the bombing, questioning whether certain actions could have resulted in the prosecution and conviction of those responsible for the crime. The Committee stresses however that the Real IRA and the individuals who carried out the bombing are responsible for those deaths alone. The inquiry which informs this report began in Omagh in October 2008 when the Committee met representatives of the Omagh Support and Self-Help Group and paid their respects at the memorial garden erected in the town. At this time two significant processes were under way which inform the bulk of this Report. Sir Peter Gibson's (the Intelligence Services Commissioner), review and also a civil court action by some of the Omagh families against five named individuals and the Real IRA had begun some eight years ago and remains in progress. As Appeal proceedings have begun the Committee makes no comment on that case in this report. In this document the Committee, report facts that are already matters of public record and make some general points about the treatment of victims of terrorist incidents. The Committee looked at the Gibson Review (which resulted from a BBC Panorama programme broadcast two days earlier and an article in that week's Sunday Telegraph by the BBC reporter John Ware), High Court Action and the case for a public inquiry.

This report finds that relations between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland are closer than has ever been the case and that co-operative arrangements in place in the spheres of policing and law enforcement have never run more smoothly or been more effective in countering crime and bringing its perpetrators to justice. The border provides considerable opportunities for the highly experienced and inventive organised criminal gangs, frequently arisen from paramilitary groupings, that have blighted Northern Ireland's life for several decades. Criminals exploit the room opened for them by the border, such as the jurisdictional issues that arise out of having two systems of law and law enforcement operating in an area so criss-crossed with roads, streams and other crossing points. The inquiry has found many good examples of work done by the law enforcement agencies on both sides of the border. The value of institutional contacts between organisations such as the PSNI and An Garda Siochana is inestimable. Chapters in the report cover: policing and co-operation; criminal justice and co-operation; areas for closer co-operation (including scope for legislative change and sex offenders and public safety).

work of the Committee in Session 2008-09 : First report of session 2009-10, report, together with formal Minutes

Incorporating HC 360-i and ii, session 2008-09