Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his comments and questions. I welcome his comments on the shared island fund that we have provided. It is undoubtedly the case that PEACEPLUS will be directly complementary to the capital investment that is being deployed through shared island fund and, indeed, through Project Ireland 2040. The new programme will support a broad range of activities, which will contribute to connectivity, prosperity and sustainability across the island. They are complementary and I very much look forward to seeing progress in the roll out of this programme over the period ahead.

On any potential threats or risks for PEACEPLUS arising from the political situation in Northern Ireland, it is important to say that we did, as the Deputy acknowledged, get approval from the Norther Ireland Executive, from the NSMC and the Irish Government as well, last October. At this point in time, it is full steam ahead. The final touches are being put to the formal submission to the European Commission and we expect that to be made within the next couple of weeks. That will be a key milestone. With the NSMC approval in place, along with the approval for the draft programme last October as well from the Government here and the Northern Ireland Executive, we believe there is not any remaining threat, as such, to the final steps being taken in relation the submission of the application and the approval by the European Commission, and then the kickstarting of the application process across all of the different thematic areas. That is important.

On the reach and impact of the programme generally, there are differences to the previous programmes, PEACE IV and INTERREG VA. This is very much a combined programme. It is important to say it is heavily shaped and informed by the extensive consultation process that took place with stakeholders, which goes back 2019 through 2020, and indeed, last year as well. The nature of PEACEPLUS will be different and not just because of the different scale involved. As I said earlier, it is more than twice the level of funding available under the combined INTERREG and PEACE predecessor programmes. The reach and the nature of the programmes are also different. There have been learnings from the current programmes and those have fed into the process. In addition, the extensive stakeholder consultation has proven to be very valuable. It will make for a much more impactful programme over the next number of years.