Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

The Government is aware of the valuable role the PEACE II programme has played in building peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the Border region and that there continues to be a need for such funding. Therefore, I am glad to report that we have recently secured an extension of the PEACE programme to 2006. The extension has been adopted on foot of the conclusions of the Heads of State meeting in June 2004 which, responding to a joint initiative by the two Prime Ministers concerned, the Taoiseach and British Prime Minister, invited the Commission to examine the possibility of extending the programme to 2006. It was approved by the European Parliament on 14 January 2005 and by Council on 24 January 2005.

The operational programme detailing the priorities and measures for the extended programme was submitted to the Commission on 11 February 2005 jointly by my Department and the Department of Finance and Personnel in the North. The submission took account of an extensive public consultation carried out last summer by the special EU programmes body which manages the programme. There was a very good response to this consultation, including more than 70 written responses and a wide attendance at public meetings. This shows the high level of public engagement with the PEACE II programme.

Although the extension of the programme was agreed only five weeks ago, we are already turning our attention to the post-2006 situation. Under the terms of the programme agreed, spending may continue up to 2008. The question of what will happen when the extension runs out is one which will have to be reviewed by the two Governments in consultation with the European Commission. This is under active consideration at present.

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