Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I was delighted to hear the Minister of State's presentation. As a substitute, I am particularly pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to the debate.

Without taking from all of the other issues on the agenda, I want to focus on Brexit and its implications for these islands and the European project. As a Deputy who represent the Border constituency of Louth, I want to focus on the currency fluctuation issue which is of immediate concern. We are all aware of the impact it is already having on the agricultural trade and tourism in terms of currency differentials and that is only the start. The immediate issue this raises for the European Union, which with others I have raised at the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, concerns the €1.6 billion in EU funding that will be and should be available both in the North and the South over the period of the PEACE and INTERREG programmes and the danger that there will be a reduction in these moneys. Following the last meeting of the joint committee, it came to my attention that 17 projects proposed to be undertaken in Border constituencies to a total figure of €120 million were at the stage where letters of offer were to be issued but that they were being withheld in the Department on the basis of concerns about what the position would be post-Brexit. Part of the agreement is that letters of offer are conditional on their being available only up to 2017. This is leading to uncertainty and causing worry among local authorities, community groups and in the education and health sectors about the myriad of projects at the planning stage and those at the stage where letters of offer are to be issued. There is an urgent need to address this issue. As Deputy Seán Haughey said, the dangers to the peace process need to be recognised in the context of the importance of these moneys, both North and South. I ask the Minister of State for his opinion on the giving of a commitment, by the Government and the European Union, to a continuation of both programmes.

Additionally, I argue that those who hold sway on the island, both North and South, regardless of a Brexit, should remain committed to the peace process. The Chancellor of the Exchequer in Britain needs to see beyond 2017. What is the Minister of State's view on how the European Union, as an organisational body, can give its total commitment to the continuation of that funding, regardless of whether projects are planned for the North or the South, by getting the British Government to sign up to what is effectively a solemn agreement in the Good Friday Agreement and commit to providing its portion of the funding to enable the bodies to which I referred that are planning projects to continue with them?

That is a matter of immediate importance that extends beyond any negotiations over the next number of months. There needs to be a statement of clarity, both from the Government and from the Minister of State's Department, and a commitment from the EU to honour those projects. I ask the Minister of State to comment on those matters.