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Cross-Border Co-operation

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 November 2021

Thursday, 4 November 2021

Questions (259)

Mary Lou McDonald

Question:

259. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the details of his Department’s current cross-Border initiatives, goods and or services committed to and the funding allocated to each for 2021, 2022 and 2023, in tabular form. [53868/21]

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Written answers

Over the 2021-23 period, my Department will have ongoing Member State responsibility for two 2014-20 EU-funded North South cross-border programmes, INTERREG VA and PEACE IV, with a combined value of €553m. Member State responsibility for both programmes is shared with the Department of Finance in Northern Ireland. Management of the programmes is the responsibility of the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB), (a North South Implementation Body established under the Good Friday agreement), and under the joint sponsorship of my Department and the Department of Finance Northern Ireland. While both programmes are for the 2014-20 programming period, activity will continue on both out to a normal closure date of 2023-24. The INTERREG VA programme has a total value of €283m and the PEACE IV programme has a total value of €270m. Funding on programmes is now fully committed.

My Department will also have joint Member State responsibility during the 2021-23 period for the new PEACE PLUS cross-border EU programme. While a financing agreement for the new programme is still being finalised between Ireland, the UK and the EU, PEACE PLUS is expected to have a total value of c. €1.145bn. As with the current PEACE and INTERREG programmes, the new programme will be managed by the SEUPB. The draft PEACE PLUS programme has recently been approved by Government, as well as by the Northern Ireland Executive and the North South Ministerial Council, and will shortly be submitted to the European Commission for its consideration and final approval. The total funding allocations for all three cross-border programmes are set out in tabular form below.

Programme

INTERREG VA (2014-20)

PEACE IV (2014-20)

PEACE PLUS (2021-27)

Total Funding

€283m

€270m

c. €1.145bn

I note that the Deputy has addressed the same question to all other Ministers, who will doubtless provide details of a series of other important cross-Border funding initiatives underway for this period under the aegis of their own Departments, including in relation to commitments under the New Decade, New Approach agreement, under Project Ireland 2040 and the Shared Island Fund.

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