Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Pascal Donohoe, who is before a committee.

The Irish Government remains firmly committed to the full and successful implementation of the PEACE and INTERREG programmes. I am aware of the Deputies' interest in the issue and the Minister and I share their commitment to this important area of North-South co-operation. Just yesterday, the Minister’s officials met representatives of the east Border region and gave them a full briefing on the work that we have been doing to protect the PEACE and INTERREG programmes from the consequences of Brexit.

The Government is proud of its role in securing EU funding for a fourth PEACE programme. Along with its sister INTERREG programme, it will see investment of more than €500 million in the region over the period from 2014 to 2020. The programmes have made an enormous contribution to cross-Border co-operation and remain important drivers of regional development in a cross-Border context. More than this, support for the programmes is a key element of the European Union's continuing commitment to the process of peace building and reconciliation over the last quarter of a century. This is a key point that should not be lost sight of.

Earlier this month at the British Irish Association in Oxford, the Taoiseach put the role of the EU in supporting the peace process, including through the Special EU Programmes Body and EU funding, at the top of his list of issues that need to be addressed to protect the Good Friday Agreement. The UK’s decision to leave the EU will obviously have implications for two programmes that are 85% funded by the European Union, just as it will have implications for all programmes supported by the EU budget. This has created huge uncertainty for everyone involved in the programmes, and the solutions will be neither simple nor easy. The risks to the programmes were identified by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform as a result of the contingency planning undertaken prior to the referendum, so that starting on day one, 24 June 2016, officials began working with the Northern Ireland Executive, the Special EU Programmes Body and the European Commission to establish the basis on which the programmes can continue to be implemented. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, has discussed the matter with the Minister, Mr. Ó Muilleoir, at the North-South Ministerial Council. They have been in correspondence and I understand they plan to speak in the coming days.

The Minister is aware of assurances given by the Treasury on a whole range of EU-funded projects as a response to widespread concern in the UK about the consequences of Brexit. In the case of Structural Funds projects, however, these assurances only relate to projects approved in the normal course prior to the Chancellor's autumn statement in this coming November. As I am sure the Deputies will agree, we would be concerned at any suggestion that it would not be possible to continue to approve projects beyond then. We appreciate there is an anxiety to see letters of offer issue to applicants as soon as possible, but the UK's decision to leave the EU has, as we predicted, raised all sorts of uncertainty. It would be foolhardy to proceed before everyone concerned, including programme beneficiaries, funding Departments and the Commission itself, all understand the nature of the financial commitments they are being asked to enter into for projects that may extend beyond the UK exit from the EU.

The personal commitment of the Minister, Mr. Ó Muilleoir, to the programmes is well known, but we will nevertheless be looking for assurances from him that approval for projects will be able to continue beyond the Chancellor’s autumn statement. It is important that his officials work with ours to address the complex problems thrown up by the referendum result, so that project beneficiaries can be made robust offers of funding that will survive the consequences of Brexit.

While there are complex financial, technical and legal issues that need to be worked through, let there be no doubt about this Government’s commitment to the successful implementation of the programmes. The programmes are a long-term project and we are in this for the long haul.

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