Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 April 2023
64. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the extent to which she continues dialogue with voluntary rural and community groups throughout the country, including Northern Ireland, with a view to maximising efforts likely to contribute to the sentiments of the Good Friday Agreement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [19270/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe question is about the degree to which the Minister engages with the various community groups along the Border, North and South, with a view to allowing them all to avail of benefit from the schemes run by her Department in a way which would be beneficial and complementary to the Good Friday Agreement.
My Department continues to engage with community and voluntary organisations to support all communities across Ireland to develop in a vibrant, inclusive and sustainable manner.
With particular regard to communities in Northern Ireland and the Border counties of Ireland, I am very pleased that my Department shares responsibility for the PEACE IV programme, which supports peace and reconciliation and promotes the social and economic stability of all communities in this region. This programme has delivered significant improvements for all communities, with support and funding provided by my Department.
My Department is currently working with the Special EU Programmes Body, SEUPB, one of the six cross-Border bodies set up under the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, to manage the PEACE programme, and with relevant Northern Ireland departments, on guidance documents and calls for applications. Along with our Northern Ireland counterparts and the SEUPB, my Department is presenting at pre-application support workshops to support potential applicants, including voluntary and community groups. The workshops are focusing on providing applicants with an overview of the PEACE Plus programme, the relevant investment areas, guidance on concept notes and policy interests from a Northern Ireland and Ireland perspective.
It is anticipated that the launch of the PEACE Plus programme will take place in the first half of this year with a value of over €1.1 billion. We need to continue this essential work to continue the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. This new programme represents an opportunity to continue to fund peacebuilding interventions alongside activities which help to make the region a more prosperous, healthier place to live through funding areas of mutual interest on a cross-Border basis.
My Department is also supporting strategic projects such as the Ulster Canal, and my officials have met with their Northern Ireland counterparts to discuss the potential for the Connected Hubs platform to partner with Northern Ireland enterprise and co-working hubs under the shared island fund.
This is a very important business, and I strongly urge that every possible opportunity be used in this regard to promote and to develop good and better relations between the communities and, in particular, to be able to identify on each side of the Border those areas that are in need of rejuvenation, restructuring, redevelopment - the helping hand, in other words - on a continuing basis, with a view to achieving a noticeable benefit in the shortest possible time.
I do have an interest in this area. In November I visited Derry and Belfast, and a couple of organisations I met there are worth a mention. Holywell Trust is a community relations and community development organisation committed to positively transforming the lives of local people through addressing interpersonal and societal challenges. We had a very good meeting there about the challenges the community and voluntary sector faces in Northern Ireland, and they came down on a return visit in February and were here in the Chamber to watch some of the proceedings. I also met people from the Playhouse Theatre and Peacebuilding Academy. That project aims to use theatre as a vessel to allow individuals whose lives have been deeply affected by the Troubles to share their stories with audiences. In Belfast I met representatives of the Shankill Shared Women's Centre. There is a huge project there that will provide a new neutral space and cross-community activities that will provide meaningful, purposeful and sustained contact between women, children and young people from both sides of the interface area. I had a meeting with the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action, NICVA, in Belfast as well. It is the equivalent to the Wheel here in Ireland. Again, we shared some challenges from both sides of the Border and built some good relations there.
