Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In the context of the 2013 agreement on the EU multi-annual financial framework which was reached during Ireland's Presidency of the European Council of Ministers, the Government was successful in securing €1.2 billion in cohesion policy funding for the period 2014-20.  This includes two special allocations of €150 million towards a new PEACE programme and €100 million for the BMW region. A total of €409 million has been allocated to two European Regional Development Fund co-funded programmes which will be delivered through two regional operational programmes aligned with Ireland's NUTS II regions, one covering the southern and eastern region and the other covering the Border, midlands and western region. Total programme expenditure for the two ERDF programmes, including match funding, will amount to just over €800 million.  The programmes will support investment in RTDI, enterprise development, the roll-out of high speed broadband in unserved areas, energy efficiency in social and low income households and urban development programmes.

I am pleased that Ireland's two regional programmes were among the first to be adopted by the Commission before Christmas. I travelled to Brussels last month for the formal signing of the two programmes and meet the new Regional Policy Commissioner, Corina Cretu, who has accepted my invitation to visit Ireland in the summer. 

Work is well under way on the implementation of the two programmes. The monitoring committee for each of the programmes met earlier this month.  Building on their record in managing previous programmes, the newly reconstituted Southern Regional Assembly and the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, representatives of which attended the signing of the agreement in Brussels, will continue as managing authorities for the new programmes.

At a national level, a partnership agreement monitoring committee is being established to oversee implementation of all the operational programmes covered by Ireland's partnership agreement for European Structural and investment funds, including not only the ERDF but also the European Social Fund, the rural development fund and the European maritime and fisheries fund. As the Deputy will be aware, Ireland has a good record of maximising its draw-down of EU funding. I am confident that this will continue in the period 2014 to 2020.

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