A NORTH-SOUTH ministerial council meeting will take place in Dublin today as ministers from the new Irish government and the new Northern executive meet for the first time.

In what RTÉ reports as a familiar image of these austere times Taoiseach Enda Kenny and his cabinet will travel by coach to Farmleigh House where talks on a range of issues will take place with Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson and his power-sharing Stormont cabinet.

The North South Ministerial Council was established under the Good Friday Agreement back in 1998.

According to its website its aim is “to develop consultation, co-operation and action within the island of Ireland – including through implementation on an all-island and cross-border basis – on matters of mutual interest.”

There will be little that is contentious on the agenda according to RTÉ which adds that both sides will have a chance to build on relationships that could last half a decade given the strength of both administrations mandates.

Enda Kenny has previously said that today’s talks were a chance to have a “real discussion”, reports the Irish Times, with the Taoiseach adding:

There are a whole range of issues, relevant to the development of the economies North and South, that we must discuss at that meeting.

On the agenda, will be talks regarding in the economic recovery, and a restatement of the commitment by the previous government here to part-fund road access to the North West, despite massive objections to the project in the North, adds Newstalk.