Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 31 March 2021
230. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the percentage of the just transition fund that has been allocated to each of the priorities in the provisional offers of funding under each of strand 1 and 2. [17126/21]
View answer231. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the amount of just transition funding that has been drawn down to date by enterprises or communities in the midlands following the announcement in November 2019 in relation to the fund. [17127/21]
View answer233. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the mechanism that was included in the evaluation process to ensure the criteria that a minimum of 5% of communities most affected, that is, the communities that suffered the job losses would be prioritised for Just Transition funding and would be allocated to each of the eight counties deemed eligible to apply. [17129/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 230, 231 and 233 together.
The objective of the Just Transition Fund is to support innovative projects that contribute to the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the Wider Midlands region, and which have employment and enterprise potential. The Fund has three priorities:
1. Employment and enterprise supports: to support innovation and investment proposals to generate sustainable employment in green enterprise.
2. Training supports: to retrain and reskill workers to assist local communities and businesses in the Wider Midlands to adjust to the low carbon transition.
3. Community transitioning supports: to support proactive communications with affected communities and other stakeholders in the region, establish best practice sharing networks, and assist in developing local transition plans.
My Department held a competitive call for applications to this Fund, which closed on 17 July 2020, in response to which over 100 applications were received. 16 'strand 1' projects, announced by my Department in September 2020, have concluded Funding Agreements with my Department, to a total value of €1.2m. Further provisional offers of funding to 'strand 2' projects, totalling €27.8 million, were made to 47 projects in November 2020. The percentage allocations to the three priority areas for strand 1 were:
- Priority 1: 63%
- Priority 2: 10%
- Priority 3: 27%
The funding allocations to the three priority areas under strand 2, based on the provisional offers, are:
- Priority 1: 76%
- Priority 2: 13%
- Priority 3 11%
My Department to date has issued €169,747 to Strand 1 projects. There have been no pre-funding or drawdown requests made for strand 2 projects as funding agreements have not yet been finalised for these projects.
The Just Transition Fund call has sought to ensure a geographical spread of successful projects across the eight eligible counties of the Wider Midlands region and, if a sufficient spread of applications was submitted from each of the eligible counties, seek to ensure that a minimum of 5% of the total allocated spend goes to each of the eight counties. My Department intends to publish the final funding allocations on a county-by-county basis once all funding agreements are in place.
