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

My Department is involved in the process throughout. While ultimately PEACEPLUS will involve selecting individual projects to be funded, that will follow the thematic calls. The calls will be under each individual theme and then the relevant applications will come in. Normally the applications are of a cross-Border nature. They generally do not come in from a single entity on a sole basis. They are generally put together by at least two bodies working together on a cross-Border basis. While that can include local authorities, State agencies, Departments and non-governmental organisations, third level institutions in the academic area and so on can also be involved.

As the Deputy would expect, there is a robust and transparent process, involving assessment of the applications that come in. This is approved by the programme monitoring committee to support project selection. It will also involve independent technical experts where appropriate. We all have a job to do to raise the profile of this in the coming months and to inform the elected members of all the councils in the relevant areas that there will be funding opportunities and that they should be very much involved through their local authorities in shaping their approach and putting forward priority projects during the application stage. That is why today's appearance is important. All of us coming through our respective parties and Independents should raise the profile of this issue with local authorities at an elected level as well as the work that is ongoing at official level.