Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 January 2019
525. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of Irish applications to the EU Connecting Europe Facility in each of the years 2014 to 2018; the successful applications granted funding; and the monetary value to date of same. [2411/19]
View answer537. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the number of Irish applications to the Motorways of the Sea EU funding source in each of the years 2014 to 2018; the successful applications granted funding; and the monetary value to date of same. [2412/19]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 525 and 537 together.
A total of 19 Irish transport projects have been selected under the 2014-2017 EU Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) calls for funding. During this period, Irish applicants submitted a total of 28 eligible CEF applications for transport projects. This includes projects also involving other Member States, for funding for multi-beneficiary actions, which I have further detailed below. Three transport-related CEF funding applications of relevance to Ireland were submitted as part of the 2018 CEF call for proposals. These applications are currently being evaluated and assessed by the European Commission, with a decision to be made in the first half of 2019.
CEF funding is allocated in the form of grants awarded to successful applicants following competitive calls for proposals, which are published on the website of the European Commission. Each call has specific funding priorities and explicit criteria for activities that are eligible for funding under that individual call and calls vary from year to year.
Irish beneficiaries have to date received over €90.1 million for projects on Ireland's Trans-European Transport (TEN-T) Network. This figure includes funding where Irish project promoters have successfully joined with project promoters across other EU Member States. These would include successful applications for the deployment of Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) and road transport projects with other Member States, which includes studies on the harmonisation of interoperable intelligent transport systems (ITS) and cooperative Intelligent transport systems (C-ITS). The ports of Dublin, Cork and Shannon Foynes have all been successful in applying for and obtaining CEF funding.
Motorways of the Sea is considered a horizontal priority of CEF and constitutes the maritime pillar of CEF. It is a separate and smaller funding stream under the overall CEF allocation, and it aims to promote green, viable, attractive and efficient sea-based transport links which are integrated into the entire transport chain.
There have been two successful Irish applications for Motorways of the Sea funding. These were both joint applications for funding made with entities in other Member States.
Details of all Irish successful proposals for CEF funding, including successful Motorways of the Sea proposals, are available on the website of the European Commission.
Finally, I wish to state that my answer to this question is with regard to transport projects only. CEF is a funding instrument for the Trans-European Networks (TEN) of the EU, in the fields of transport, digital, and energy. All matters pertaining to digital and energy CEF applications and funding are a matter for my colleague the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and the Environment.
