Patrick Costello
Question:140. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Taoiseach the role envisaged for civic society engagement as part of the shared island unit. [36427/20]
View answerTuesday, 17 November 2020
Questions (140, 141)
Patrick Costello
Question:141. Deputy Patrick Costello asked the Taoiseach the role for philanthropy in facilitating all-island engagement between groups in relation to the shared island unit. [36428/20]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 140 and 141 together.
The Programme for Government sets out the Government’s commitments on a Shared Island and to working with all communities and traditions on the island to build consensus around a shared future, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement.
On 22 October, I set out the Government’s vision and priorities on Shared Island in an online event at Dublin Castle. Over 800 people participated online, comprising a broad range of civil society, community, sectoral, and political representatives, across the island of Ireland and in Britain.
In Budget 2021, the Government announced the Shared Island Fund, with a planned €500m to be made available out to 2025. The Shared Island Fund provides significant new, multiannual capital funding for investment on a strategic basis in collaborative North/South projects that will support the commitments and objectives of the Good Friday Agreement.
A Shared Island unit has been established in my Department and its work is proceeding to examine the considerations for a shared future in which all traditions are mutually respected, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement. Operationally, the unit is focusing its work in three areas: commissioning research, fostering dialogue, and building a Shared Island agenda, including delivery of the commitments in the Programme for Government.
Strengthening social, economic and political links on the island and the promotion of all-island approaches to the strategic challenges facing Ireland, North and South are key objectives for this work.
As I said in Dublin Castle on 22 October, the role of civil society is central to the Shared Island initiative. Reflecting that, I launched the Shared Island Dialogue series to foster constructive and inclusive civic dialogue on all aspects of a shared future on the island.
The Dialogue series will start later this month and focus on important issues for people on the island in the years ahead, such as the environment, health, education and economy, and on key civic concerns that are addressed in the Good Friday Agreement, including identity and equality.
The Shared Island Dialogues will actively seek as broad a range of perspective and experience from civil society on the island as possible and ensure the inclusion of voices that have been under-represented in the Peace Process, including women, young people and new communities on the island.
The Dialogue series is complimentary to the range of discussions and engagement that already happen in community and civic settings, which has always been an important part of the Peace Process founded on the Good Friday Agreement.
Philanthropic support for civic and community engagement has also been a long-standing and welcome feature of the Peace Process. I am fully supportive of that continuing, as a valuable complement to Government support, including through our Reconciliation Fund, contributions to the International Fund for Ireland, and cooperation with the European Union and the UK to deliver the EU PEACE PLUS programme over 2021-27.