Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for his comments. There is no specific theme in PEACEPLUS related to ex-prisoners but the thrust of the programme is to place emphasis on providing support to the most marginalised within our communities, including ex-prisoners. They are not excluded from being part of projects that will be funded under PEACEPLUS.

It is important to give a sense of the level of consultation that took place in the development of the programme. The initial public consultation took place between December 2019 and February 2020. That involved 16 public events, covering every county in the eligible area as well as a collection of over 300 written submissions from stakeholders. That was the first round. There was then a second consultation between March and May 2021 with over 400 written submissions received. By any measure that is a very high level of engagement from the stakeholders and the general public.

We often hold consultations in Ireland and we do not get a level of involvement of that order. There has been, as I said, intense engagement between the two Government Departments, along with the SEUPB. There has been research and independent evaluations of the current INTERREG and PEACE programmes, so all the learnings from that work and that level of consultation has fed into the development of the programme.

Now the Covid situation has improved, I am really looking forward to getting out on the ground and seeing some of the projects that have been funded under the current INTERREG and PEACE programmes and also, over the period ahead, to see some of the projects that are being put forward for funding. I am really anxious to get out and see much of that.

The Deputy's point about red tape and bureaucracy is heard. All this funding is of course subject to audit. There will always be a significant level of compliance work with EU regulations. It has been consistently raised over the course of the consultation and the programme development that it be kept to a minimum while still complying with the standards we must abide by for the use of public money. It is to be hoped that will manifest itself.