North-South bodies set up under the Good Friday Agreement will continue working for another 12 months to fill the political vacuum in Northern Ireland, it emerged tonight.
The six institutions cover inland waterways, agriculture, food safety, the Irish and Ulster-Scots languages, European Union funding programmes, and trade and business development.
Their periods of operation were due to expire next month but the Government today approved extensions to allow them to continue to work for another year.
A formal announcement on the matter is expected to be made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs later this week.
A Government source said tonight: "The six bodies meet regularly and play an important role in filling the political vacuum in the absence of power-sharing institutions in Northern Ireland."
The Taoiseach Bertie Ahern hopes a positive Independent Monitoring Commission report in January will pave the way for devolution talks to begin between the DUP and Sinn Féin.
But DUP leader the Rev Ian Paisley said after a meeting with Mr Ahern last Friday that the IMC was not ready to give the IRA "a clean bill of health".
PA