At the request of Members of the Oireachtas in Dublin and the Parliament at Westminster, the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body was established in February 1990 with the consent and co-operation of both Governments.
Initially, the Body provided a link between the UK and Irish Sovereign Parliaments, though since 2001 it went through a post devolution enlargement exercise incorporating the devolved assemblies and the Crown dependencies within its structure.
In October 2008, the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body, re-branded itself as the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly (BIPA). The purpose of the BIPA is to bring together Members of the participating institutions to engage jointly in a wide range of non-legislative parliamentary activities.
Further information on the BIPA can be found on the BIPA website
BIPA Wales Structure
Full Members of BIPA
- David Rees MS - Deputy Presiding Officer - Assembly delegation leader
- Helefdd Fychan MS
- Darren Millar MS
- Sarah Murphy MS
Assembly Official - Enfys Roberts, Private Office Manager (International & Communications)
Plenary Sessions
BIPA meet in plenary sessions twice yearly, alternating between venues in the UK and Ireland. Each plenary lasts one and a half days and is overseen by the two co-chairs.
BIPA Committee Reports
Committee reports are presented to plenary sessions which usually comment on them in the form of a resolution. Reports are sent to both Governments and Executives which then make formal replies to the recommendations.
These replies are also published and considered by the Assembly in plenary session.
Latest Committee Reports
Committee B (European Affairs)
Committee C (Economic Affairs)
Committee D (Environmental and Social Affairs)