Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

On 26 March 2014, I met a delegation from the European Parliament's committee on regional development, REGI, to discuss the next round of Structural Funds spending in Ireland. I was accompanied at the meeting by Minister of State, Deputy Brian Hayes. The REGI committee is a key committee of the European Parliament that is responsible for regional and cohesion policy, including the European regional development fund and other instruments of the

Union's regional policy. It was on a three-day visit to Ireland that included a meeting with the Chair of the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform and visits to Waterford and Kilkenny where the delegation had an opportunity to see how Structural Funds are being spent on the ground.

During our meeting, I briefed the committee on preparations for the next round of structural funds spending in Ireland. As the Deputy may be aware, Ireland was successful in securing €1.2 billion of cohesion policy funding from the European regional development fund and the European social fund for the period 2014-2020. This represents an increase of 8% in real terms over the 2007-2013 programming period at a time when the overall EU budget for cohesion policy has been reduced by 8%. It includes special allocations for the BMW region and towards a new Northern Ireland PEACE programme.

I discussed with the committee how funding from the European social fund and the European regional development fund will be targeted at combating long-term and youth unemployment and social exclusion, as well as promoting research and development investment, the competitiveness of the business sector and an environmentally-friendly and resource-efficient economy. The funding will complement the Government's jobs and growth agenda.

The committee acknowledged the key role that Ireland had played last year during our Presidency of the Council of Ministers towards brokering an agreement on the package of regulations that will govern the next round of structural funds across Europe. For my part, I thanked the committee for its constructive engagement in the complex and lengthy negotiations and acknowledged the role of the European Parliament in setting the legislative framework for a wide range of key policy areas and in particular for its contribution to the development of cohesion policy for the 2014-2020 round.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House.

The Minister of State and I also briefed the committee on the progress the Government is making in repairing the economy and returning it to growth. We discussed the contribution Structural Funds can make to that process. The REGI committee appreciates the importance of the European structural and investment funds for a country like Ireland and was keen to hear how we propose to maximise the value of available funding.

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