Brendan Smith
Ceist:20. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Taoiseach the plans in place to increase staffing levels in the shared island unit within his Department. [1683/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 18 February 2025
Ceisteanna (20, 21, 22, 23)
Erin McGreehan
Ceist:21. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Taoiseach the plans to increase staffing levels in the shared island unit within his Department. [4237/25]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Ruairí Ó Murchú
Ceist:22. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach for an update on the work being done by the shared island unit in his Department. [4795/25]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Rose Conway-Walsh
Ceist:23. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the work of the shared island unit. [6038/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí ó Béal (22 píosaí cainte)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 to 23, inclusive, together.
Our new programme for Government, Securing Ireland's Future, commits to delivering for all people and all regions across our shared island over the next five years. The Government is committed to the unity of the Irish people and believes this can only be achieved through a sustained focus on and investment in reconciliation, developing the three sets of relationships recognised in the Good Friday Agreement to unlock the full potential of our island.
We have set out in the programme for Government significant new commitments and an ambitious agenda for building our shared island, which will be delivered on a whole-of-Government basis. This is backed by the Government's commitment to increasing the shared island fund by a further €1 billion up to 2035. Over €500 million has been allocated by the Government from the shared island fund to date, in addition to Government funding from other sources.
With sustained political commitment and a partnership approach there has been a clear step up in what all-island co-operation delivers, with major cross-border infrastructure projects like the Narrow Water Bridge and Ulster Canal now moving forward, ambitious new education, enterprise, tourism and environmental programmes commenced with the Executive, and, crucially, new funding and ways for people across all communities on the island to connect and work together more. The Government will push forward with the historic task of building a lasting reconciliation, implementing the largest ever programme of North-South research and investment, opening critical links and building further engagement and understanding.
My Department’s shared island unit will be strengthened over the coming months to co-ordinate the actions covered by the initiative across every Government Department. We are introducing targets for each Department to develop new shared island projects. The Government will deepen our partnership with the Northern Ireland Executive, with the British and Irish Governments as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement, and work every day to harness the full potential of the agreement to build reconciliation between the different traditions of this island.
We have five speakers so I ask them to keep their contributions as brief as possible.
I welcome the additional substantial funding being provided for the shared island unit. There is a particular need in the less developed areas of the central border region, including my counties of Cavan and Monaghan, as well as counties Tyrone, Fermanagh and Armagh, as they do not have the critical mass of a major population. The programme for Government refers to developing the full potential of the Dublin-Belfast economic corridor. I think that will develop itself. We need to prioritise resources for the less-developed areas and I sincerely hope we will do so.
The programme for Government also refers to mandating each Government Department to come forward with projects. That is worthwhile, but I am glad the potential and role of local authorities is also recognised in that document. I recall very well that prior to the Good Friday Agreement and the political atmosphere and environment we have today, local authorities were doing work on a cross-Border basis, to their credit. There is great corporate knowledge within local authorities, and worthwhile projects. I am particularly anxious that a proposal I put forward some time ago relating to development of enterprise units - local innovation centres - on a cross-Border, all-Ireland basis, particularly for the Border region, should be prioritised.
The shared island unit is fantastic. I only have to walk a few miles from my house to see the work that has been progressed on the Narrow Water Bridge. I am incredibly ambitious for what the shared island unit can achieve. I ask the Taoiseach to consider that the shared island unit should look towards schools North and South and create a project almost along the lines of the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition to discover what future young people on this island - North and South - want to see. If the brains of our young people are engaged on projects and innovation on how this island can work in future, we will be onto a winner.
If we are to move anything regarding the constitutional question and unity, there is obviously a huge body of preparatory work that needs to be done. I accept that some work on modelling and comparison has been done by the shared island unit. More needs to be done on that.
The Taoiseach gave his answer about the citizens' assembly. I do not care what it is called once it is a forum that allows for a conversation on what a new Ireland could look like. If the Government is against a citizens' assembly, there is an onus on it to set out what it is actually in favour of.
There is no shortage of cross-Border issues. I raised this previously with the Taoiseach, as well as the former Taoiseach, who spoke about a hub or something to deal with these issues. The Executive is up and running and some of these are bilateral issues. The taxation of remote workers is a huge issue. There are those who work in taxi tours and that is a particular issue. Another issue I have raised is the derogation of the second generation version 2 tachograph retrofit. That is an issues for hauliers who work cross-Border.
Student accommodation tax relief is not available to students who live in the North and attend Magee College.
Tax relief? You are all against tax relief.
This is the Taoiseach's proposal. Obviously, he is against tax relief for students-----
I thought you guys were all against tax relief.
-----in the North. It is the Government's tax relief.
I have no problem with it. You guys have attacked me.
It is an anomaly that could be dealt with.
You guys have attacked us about tax relief. "You should not go near it", you said. Talk to your leader.
I welcome the programme for Government's commitment to implementing the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts. Obviously that includes provision for a referendum on Irish unity. I welcome the enhancement of the shared island unit and wish to say how important it is, in light of the geopolitical turbulence we have seen, that the investment in the initiatives and projects must be to secure or increase our competitiveness and productivity. I welcome the departmental targets. How will those targets pan out and be measured? Will they feed back to the Taoiseach? Will we get an update on progress every quarter, for example?
We welcome the commitment to investing on an all-island basis and the additional funding to the shared island fund. There are two areas that I would ask to be included. As the Taoiseach did not mention them when he was listing the priorities, I want to ensure they are clearly up on the agenda. The all-island strategic rail review report was published last year and contains really important proposals, including a proposed railway line from Portadown to Derry, with a spur to Letterkenny. Investment in rail is one key priority on an all-island basis.
The other issue comes from the SDLP, which made very practical policy proposals last year for developing the all-island economy and North-South co-operation, in particular on renewable energy infrastructure. I ask, again, that this be prioritised.
I take on board the points made by Deputy Brendan Smith. He has been a really consistent voice on behalf of cross-Border co-operation and has a great understanding of the issues in that area. I take on board what he said about the less-developed areas of Cavan, Monaghan, Fermanagh and Tyrone. We are willing to work with county councils on this and we developed a pipeline initiative some time back. Approximately 25 councils engaged, so there is a good pipeline of projects coming through at local authority level, through shared island funding.
There is also funding of approximately €2.5 million to €3 million through the Department of Foreign Affairs, which we have allocated in the shared island unit, for civic groups. This funding is for civic initiatives on a smaller scale than some of the big projects.
Deputy McGreehan raised the issue of the Narrow Water Bridge.
It is a great job.
We look forward to its completion. The Deputy will be looking out every day at its progress. She can keep an eye on it and make sure it is completed on budget and within time.
Will it come in on budget?
It is a very good example of an area that I think will be transformed. Deputy McGreehan's point about schools was well made. There is already a very interesting shared island project we have agreed with the Northern Ireland Executive on school completion. That is an innovative programme and there is good co-operation on all sides.
On the points raised by Deputy Ó Murchú, what we are for is a shared island. There is real substance in this initiative on the dialogue, research and investment fronts, which will bring people together. It is about reconciliation and we have to prioritise reconciliation. There are issues around the taxation of workers that we have been trying to resolve for some time between the two departments of finance. Some of the cross-Border bodies, in particular, have had real difficulty with their employees in that regard.
Deputy Conway-Walsh referred to geopolitical turbulence. We are making a lot of progress here and we have to continue to build on the progress we have made. We have done it in a non-political way, to be frank. We have not used the shared island unit as a Trojan horse for anything. That has been important in terms of gaining widespread societal acceptance in Northern Ireland. It has gained widespread acceptance from all communities and I want to retain that ingredient when moving this forward.
On the all-island strategic rail review Deputy Bacik raised, we will examine that to see what we can do from the shared island fund to develop some of the easier projects. Well, they may not be easier, as they will require a lot of time and investment. The Dublin-Belfast line, for example, could potentially be a game-changer for connectivity.
We are also looking at areas in both aviation and rail. The north west is not connected enough-----
Yes.
-----in any shape or form. The A5 has been bedevilled with planning issues and so on. There is no connectivity via rail, road or air and we have to address that.
It is an important issue.
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