Question to the Northern Ireland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what information he holds on the number of visits made to Northern Ireland by the (a) Prime Minister of the Irish Republic and (b) Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Irish Republic in each of the last three years.

While the UK Government is, by convention, informed in advance of visits to Northern Ireland by members of the Irish Government, the UK Government does not maintain a record of every visit by a member of foreign Governments to the UK. No details are held, therefore, on the exact number of visits by either the Taoiseach or the Minister for Foreign Affairs to Northern Ireland.