Seán Haughey (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair and Mr. Sobral for his presentation. I represent a Dublin constituency. While it would be considered affluent in EU terms, it has significant areas of disadvantage as well. The Structural and Cohesion Funds have traditionally been important for Ireland. I am thinking about the 1990s and noughties. This has resulted us now being a net contributor to the EU budget.

I make reference to Mr. Sobral’s remarks about how the situation on ground in Northern Ireland has deteriorated. He is right about that. Brexit and the Northern Ireland protocol have caused problems. We have seen demonstrations by loyalist groups, buses set on fire, and so forth. It is therefore important that Vice-President Šefovi concludes negotiations with the UK on the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol. I know that it is not through any fault of his own that these negotiations have not concluded.

The PEACE PLUS programme is very important in that context. I would also draw the Commission's attention to the initiative by the Taoiseach and the Government, known as the shared island initiative, and dialogue that is under way in the regard. The latter involves increased dialogue among civic society across all groups, with the main objective of ensuring peace. The PEACE PLUS programme very definitely feeds into that.

My main question, which has been touched on by Mr. Sobral, relates to the ongoing monitoring of expenditure, the need to avoid misappropriation, the need to avoid waste and the need to ensure efficiency. I know we are talking about a number of funds, and I do not know if Mr. Sobral wants to answer generally or in respect of all of the particular funds. With regard to oversight, what role do the Irish authorities and Departments have in monitoring expenditure, what role does the European Commission have and is the European Court of Auditors responsible for the overall monitoring of these funds?