Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's opening remarks. It is a work in progress. Substantial funds have been invested into the various PEACE programmes over the years. That money has not been wasted and there have been benefits in improving the climate of reconciliation and co-operation between both communities particularly at grass roots level but also the North-South all-island level. It is good that we have that level of co-operation and we need to continue to work on it. The last week shows that we have a distance to go and that there are still issues with sectarianism and with what used to be called the siege mentality, which still exists to some extent. In a state that was built on a sectarian head count that is not surprising. We must work to try to ameliorate that. Reconciliation is the most important issue and a considerable amount of work remains to be done there.

I have visited some of the projects that have been funded over the years and the real value comes from the small local projects, including the small joint ventures North and South. The Minister mentioned the small initiatives at local authority level and along the Border corridor, which have done much good work. I was a local authority member in the past and I know there has been great co-operation between local authorities along what is referred to as the Border corridor, which has been very positive. All parties have contributed generously to that.

I have a question on the oversight of how the money is spent. It is important that we get value for money and get the maximum results for every euro spent.