Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 10, 14, 15 and 17 together.

Ireland has been a significant beneficiary of Structural Funds throughout the 45 years of our EU membership. Of particular significance in the context of Brexit is the financial support there has been for the Border region of Ireland and Northern Ireland, with almost €2.4 billion of EU funding having been provided for successive PEACE and INTERREG programmes. The current programmes have a combined value of €550 million in the period 2014 to 2020, of which 85% is being funded through the European Regional Development Fund, ERDF.

The Government is firmly committed to the successful implementation of the current programmes, but more than that, we are committed to successor programmes post-2020. The PEACE and INTERREG programmes are important drivers of regional development in a cross-Border context. Through EU-funded co-operation, a range of Departments and agencies, North and South, have engaged in and benefited from a variety of cross-Border and cross-community projects. Support for the two programmes from the ERDF is not only an important source of funding but also a key element of the European Union's continuing commitment to the process of peace building and reconciliation in the region in the last quarter of a century. I was delighted, therefore, when December's agreed progress report between the European Union and the United Kingdom included a specific paragraph which reflected the Government's ambition to complete the current programmes and examine favourably the possibilities for future programmes. In its communication to the European Council that accompanied the progress report the European Commission commitsed itself to proposing the continuation of the programmes in its proposal for the next multi-annual financial framework, which is expected in May.

See this speech in context