The Irish rugby team's weekend win over France was an example of positive all-Ireland co-operation, the Stormont Assembly was today told.

The comment came in a debate on a DUP motion attacking cross-border political structures created under the Good Friday Agreement.

But Sinn Fein said all-island links were a permanent political reality and cited the weekend success of the Ireland team, with players drawn from north and south, as an example of good co-operation that politicians should follow.

The DUP claimed the border was benefiting the Northern Ireland economy and while it accepted the need for co-operation, it questioned the need for formal political structures, including the North-South Ministerial Council (NSMC) that brings together ministers from across the island.

But Sinn Fein's Barry McElduff said: "Can I begin my remarks by congratulating the excellent north south co-operation which we witnessed on Saturday at Croke Park, when Ireland came together to beat France in an important sporting occasion in an international rugby match."

He said separate teams from the north and south would be weaker than the combined talents on show on Saturday and he named players from both parts of Ireland he said had worked well together.

"Brian O'Driscoll needed Paddy Wallace on Saturday," he said.

But the DUP said its concern was to save resources at a time when public finances were stretched by the international economic crisis.

DUP Assembly member for Upper Bann David Simpson said: "We are motivated by a desire to save the taxpayers of Northern Ireland expenditure which could be redirected into front-line services such as schools, hospitals, roads and much needed economic infrastructure.

"I believe that people are looking to us in these difficult times to provide value for money and efficient government."

He said his party supported positive cross-border co-operation, but cited the millions being spent on all-Ireland structures.

He asked if this was value for money and added: "We want to erase the Belfast Agreement legacy of expensive and cumbersome government."

Sinn Fein said the DUP was engaging in a sham fight over all-Ireland structures because it was facing a right-wing challenge from the Traditional Unionist Voice party in June's European elections.

It added that changes to government structures could not be implemented without nationalist and republican consent.

The SDLP warned that the main unionist party was unpicking the political architecture put together in 1998 to deliver an historic agreement endorsed by voters across Ireland.

The party noted major Irish government investment in Northern Ireland projects and the SDLP's Declan O'Loan also attacked claims the border was benefiting the Northern Ireland economy.

"When you look at the complexity of this issue, in terms of our politics, of our economy, of our social relations - to reduce any discussion of the border to merely the number of people who come up to shop in Sainsbury's in Newry, really doesn't do justice to the necessary politics of our time," he said.

The Alliance Party tabled an amendment, which won support from the DUP, recommending a formal review in the value-for-money of the NSMC, though Sinn Fein noted that a review is under way.

But on the wider issue, Alliance Lagan Valley representative Trevor Lunn said: "There seems to be two aspects to this debate one is political the other economic."

He added: "The theme that has been running through it... is that everybody, to some degree at least, recognises the benefits of north-south co-operation and indirectly therefore the benefits of having a North-South Ministerial Council."

Ulster Unionist Alan McFarland said the DUP had agreed in the 2006 St Andrews Agreement that ministers would be obliged to attend North-South ministerial meetings.

He said the Belfast Agreement of 1998 brought all-island co-operation into clearly defined structures, which had operated without major problems.

Mr McFarland noted a review of the NSMC by the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, is under way, but he called for an independent process.

"It is quite in order to review institutions, but there is little point in having a stunt debate today," he said.

The SDLP, backed by Sinn Fein, ensured the motion had to secure cross-party support to stand. After a vote the DUP motion failed to get the necessary support.