Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 January 2023
84. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if Cloughjordan, County Tipperary is part of the region covered by EU just transition tourism funding of €68 million for Ireland’s midlands; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63836/22]
View answer109. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he will report on any grant applications that have been made with respect to the recent allocation of EU funding for the just transition process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1408/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 84 and 109 together.
The EU Just Transition Fund aims to address the long-term economic transition of the Midlands, following the end of commercial peat extraction and peat-fired power generation.
Following approval by the Government on 29 November 2022, the European Commission adopted Ireland’s first Territorial Just Transition Plan and associated Programme, incorporating €84.5 million of funding from the EU Just Transition Fund for the period 2021 to 2027, on 13 December 2022. When national co-financing is included, this new Programme will provide for investments of up to €169 million, incorporating up to €68 million for tourism-related initiatives.
The programme, which will be managed by the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly, will be delivered in cooperation with a number of different Departments and Agencies, and will focus on investments under the following three priorities:
- generating employment by investing in the diversification of the local economy
- supporting the restoration and rehabilitation of degraded peatlands and the regeneration and repurposing of industrial heritage assets
- providing former peat communities with smart and sustainable mobility options to enable them to benefit directly from the green transition
Allocation of funding through each scheme under the programme will take place in accordance with the scope and terms of individual schemes, once launched. A formal launch of the overall programme is anticipated in the first quarter of 2023.
The designated territory under the Programme, approved by the Government, includes the counties of Laois, Longford, Offaly, Roscommon, Westmeath, and municipal districts of Ballinasloe (County Galway), Athy and Clane-Maynooth (County Kildare), and Carrick-on-Suir and Thurles (County Tipperary). The territorial designation was informed by a number of different preparatory reports, which have been published on gov.ie, together with the Plan and Programme at: www.gov.ie/en/publication/4d421-eu-just-transition-fund/.
These reports recognise that the end of peat extraction for energy production particularly impacted a number of counties, or parts of counties, across the wider Midlands region. A total of nineteen municipal districts across eight different counties, with direct and functionally connected dependency on the peat extraction industry in the Midlands, have therefore been included in the Plan and Programme.
Although Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary, is not included in the designated territory, it should be noted that the EU Just Transition Fund rules provide that initiatives outside the territory may be funded, in line with individual scheme rules, provided that a benefit within the territory can be clearly demonstrated.
