Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their attendance. This is one of the key issues in respect of the PEACE IV funding.

What we are looking for is the precedent of the Norway-Sweden model, particularly a list of those funding schemes involving EU and non-EU members, which we can include in our submission. We will continue with the PEACE funding and the Government is making a strong case on that. We are lucky that Mr. Barnier was involved in that in his previous post and therefore understands its importance. The scale of the INTERREG programmes - 3,552 businesses helped in the 2007 to 2013 programme - makes stark what will be lost if an alternative is not found. The EU has challenged us to come up with an alternative and to demonstrate that Ireland is a special case. We have to make those special cases. The precedent is there with those cross-border agreements between an EU state and a non-EU state. As INTERREG applies to the EU only, we therefore need to create a special purpose vehicle to replace it. The PEACE funding is unique to Northern Ireland but there are also other unique EU and non-EU funding programmes that we might have to use as an example to replace the INTERREG programme.

The Chair and this committee will be making recommendations but they must be very specific. If we ask the EU to continue the INTERREG programme in Northern Ireland, it will not work. We need to be able to say that we understand that INTERREG cannot continue but that to continue with the peace process we need to continue with INTERREG and follow the funding models and programmes that are in place elsewhere. The witnesses are the experts on this and we need their assistance. What are the other EU and non-EU states doing to programme and fund projects?