Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 January 2019
613. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the discussions he has had to date with his counterparts in Northern Ireland in relation to the continuation of cross-border programmes post-Brexit, if such programmes that have been organised on a cross-border basis and that have made a major contribution to development in the Border region will continue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3092/19]
View answerMy Department is a designated Accountable Department for certain measures under the PEACE IV Programme. My colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, has overall responsibility for both the PEACE and INTERREG programmes including discussions on the future of these programmes.
That said, I can confirm the Government is committed to the successful implementation of the PEACE and INTERREG programmes and to successor programmes post-2020. The Government's ambition for these programmes is reflected in the EU-UK Joint Report on Brexit in which the parties undertook to honour their commitments to the programmes under the current Multi-annual Financial Framework (MFF) and to examine possibilities for future support favourably. This is matched by the European Commission's commitment to propose a continuation of the programmes in its proposal for the next MFF for the period 2021-2027.
The draft Withdrawal Agreement between the EU and the UK provides that UK involvement in current PEACE and INTERREG programmes will continue up to their normal completion. Moroever, the Commission brought forward a proposal last month for a specific Regulation to enable both programmes to continue in the event of a no-deal scenario. This proposal gives legal certainty to the programmes if there is no deal.
Finally, I am very pleased that the Commissions proposals for the next round of Cohesion policy, published last May, included a specific proposal for a special new PEACE PLUS programme to build on and continue the work of both PEACE and INTERREG in recent years.
