Mr. Micheál Frain:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to address it today on the important work of the Northern and Western Regional Assembly in the areas of European funding and co-operation. The three regional assemblies are key to regional development, driving the statutory regional spatial and economic strategies and EU-funded programmes. This dual focus helps direct EU funding for maximum long-term regional impact. In recent years, our assembly has built a team of approximately 30 staff and our growth is reflective of the growth in a number of policy areas, including spatial planning and ERDF programme delivery.

The Border, Midlands and Western Regional Assembly was established by Government Order on 21 July 1999 with the remit to act as the managing authority for EU Structural Funds in the BMW region. Under the Local Government Reform Act 2014, a number of changes were made to the regional structures in Ireland. The eight regional authorities were dissolved on 1 June 2014 and their functions and staff were transferred to the regional assemblies. Subsequently the three regional assemblies were established on 1 January 2015. These are the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, the Eastern and Midlands Regional Assembly and the Southern Regional Assembly. Together, the regional assemblies form a strong regional structure that strengthens the development of Ireland's regions in a co-ordinated, strategic manner.

The Northern and Western Regional Assembly has been the managing authority for a number of regional programmes, including the 2007 to 2013 programme, which had a €571 million investment, and the 2014 to 2020 programme, which had a €321 million investment. Our current programme is the Northern and Western Regional Programme 2021-2027, which is a €217 million investment strategy focusing on developing a more competitive region through increased research development and innovation, aligned with our smart specialisation strategy, supporting actions to scale up energy efficiency measures for those in energy poverty, and supporting the sustainable regeneration of towns and urban centres using a town centre first framework.

The Northern and Western Regional Assembly has been actively involved in managing INTERREG territorial co-operation programmes in Ireland since 2000, and holds the national contact point in Ireland for the INTERREG northern periphery and Arctic programme as well as for the Atlantic area programme. The assembly frequently participates in individual European territorial co-operation projects, often serving as the lead partner in facilitating the exchange of best practices and policy learning. These activities contribute to the effective management and development of regional programmes and the RSES. Our track record demonstrates that generally we conduct this work well.

It is worth highlighting that what sets the northern and western region apart from the other two regions in Ireland is that it has been classified by the European Commission as a region in transition. It has been downgraded from being a more developed region owing to a number of indicators which, regrettably, show our region has a lower economic performance. These include a lower GDP per capita ratio and other challenges, such as a particularly weak infrastructure score when compared to European norms. This presents an ongoing challenge for the people of our region, as well as being a clear policy issue which requires the implementation of robust policy and investment in projects of scale to meaningfully address regional imbalance in Ireland. A geographically even distribution in the roll-out of transport and national grid projects is just one of the key enabling conditions for a more balanced island. Thankfully, this approach is advocated in the recently updated national planning framework.

It is the view of the regional assembly members who sit at our monthly meetings that, unfortunately, the highly centralised system of government in Ireland has not served the regions particularly well to date. The Northern and Western Regional Assembly would, therefore, stress the vital importance of a critical assessment of the potential impacts of the European Commission's draft multi-annual financial framework for 2028 to 2034, which was published in July 2025. The proposal to bring funds together under a single national and regional partnership plan poses significant risks in terms of diluting a priority tenet of the EU, namely, economic, social and territorial cohesion. In short, we need a model consisting of less centralisation and not more.

In relation to territorial cohesion, in recent years, our assembly has published a number of research papers, all of which are available on our website. These reports contain one recurring message, which is that the socioeconomic evidence demonstrates there is a major challenge faced by all of us here, and by all arms of the State, to deliver a levelling up on this island in terms of regional development, and to ensure consistency of opportunity for all our citizens. The Northern and Western Regional Assembly is happy to do whatever we can to aid this task, and we wish to continue to deliver on European programmes and policy engagement.

We ask for the support of this committee in ensuring that we will look forward to the regional assemblies being at the centre of crafting policy, as well as implementing decisions that will hopefully continue to positively impact the regions and local communities and to bring a sustained and progressive growth across all of society in the northern and western region.