Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and members for their indulgence. I am not a member of the committee. Normally members of the committee speak first, but I have another meeting to attend at 10.30 a.m. I hope to meet the witnesses in the audiovisual room later.

I welcome the delegation. I pay tribute to local councillors right across the Border region, the management of local authorities and the managers of the programmes on their efforts. I smiled when Ms Arthurs referred to the INTERREG programme starting in 1990. I remember an MEP talking about it in the Leinster region in a very strange accent and we thought he was talking about Easter eggs. That was in the late 1980s when the programme was being introduced and we were made aware of the great benefits it would bring to the Border region. There is no doubt that the impact of the INTERREG and PEACE programmes, in addition to what local authorities have been doing, has been enormous.

The Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement has been looking at having the witnesses appear at the committee again to discuss this issue. It is clear everybody is making a concerted effort and has made sure the additional moneys available to the Border region are best spent. I am a former member of a Border region local authority and was a local public representative for 25 years. The additional funding in rural Border regions, particularly in my area of Louth, which I can speak for specifically - I am sure other members will speak for their own area - has been very beneficial to peace, prosperity and the sense of co-operation. Despite the fact that management was always engaging throughout the Troubles, too many people, including councillors, had their backs to each other. It has changed dramatically in my lifetime as a result of EU intervention and the PEACE programme moneys. We are in a huge vacuum at present.

I am coming to my question. In the context of Brexit, what can be done collectively in terms of the duty of care, the bottom-up approach and new policies from Government to ensure that, in a more extreme situation than we have ever found ourselves in, there is a specific programme? Dr. Soares referred to 15%. The reality is when one is in a vacuum, one cannot plan. We have been told some of the programmes will be available until 2020.

I will finish on this point. Ms Gina McIntyre attended a committee meeting and spoke about extraterritorial programmes and programmes available between non-EU and EU countries. There are examples of those across Europe. Is action needed to have somebody within the EU programmes address the issue? What was happening in each of these particular bodies was lauded down the years in Europe. This is the most important point I will make this morning. The European Commission, the Commissioner at the time, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, and Colin Wolfe stated what was happening in the Border region was unique in Europe. They talked about 130 cross-territorial regions where this type of co-operation was not happening but it was happening in our region. Our region has benefited hugely from it.

I will leave it there. I have another meeting to attend so I will meet the witnesses later. What can be done by politicians to ensure either a new or enhanced programme delivers from Carlingford Lough to the tip of Donegal to ensure the region continues to prosper, because it will take a backward step if Brexit happens? That is the key question. Money speaks languages but the communities have suffered badly and continue to suffer. Despite the money that came in through the INTERREG and PEACE programmes, it has still not filtered down into communities, not only in the Border region but also in the more deprived areas of Belfast or Derry. How can we ensure that happens?