Ministerial Meeting Dublin – May 28th 2025

Stable Lives Safer Streets Research Hub (SLSS Hub) Lead Investigators, Dr Catherine Naughton (UL) and Dr Colm Walsh (QUB) will present their research findings at the Ministerial Meeting of the Intergovernmental Agreement on Cooperation in Criminal Justice Matters on Wednesday 28th May in the Department of Justice, Dublin.

This Ministerial meeting takes place under the framework of the Intergovernmental Agreement on Criminal Justice Co-operation (IGA).  The IGA was established in 2005 and provides a structured cooperation mechanism in which the Northern Ireland Executive and the Government of Ireland can co-operate and co-ordinate on criminal justice matters.

Under the Agreement the two Justice Ministers meet at least annually to discuss criminal justice matters of mutual interest or concern in the two jurisdictions and to consider the scope for, and develop plans to achieve, more effective co-operation and co-ordination on criminal justice matters between the two jurisdictions. The last such meeting was on 11 April 2024.

Minister Jim O’Callaghan and Justice Minister for Northern Ireland, Naomi Long MLA will jointly chair the meeting which will also be attended by Senior Department of Justice Officials North and South, and Senior Gardaí and PSNI.

As the IGA is focused on North-South cooperation in the criminal justice sphere, the work of the Stable Lives Safer Streets project is of great interest. One of the work streams under the IGA specifically concerns Youth Justice. That work stream is co-chaired by Deaglan O’Briain, Principal Officer from this Department and Stephen Martin, Chief Executive, Youth Justice Agency in Northern Ireland.