Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. At the outset, I wish to address the €146 million that was taken out of the proposed allocation to the rural development fund. As I secured €337 million in alternative funding for agriculture, we more than made up for that particular loss. Furthermore, the Common Agricultural Policy will now have a higher share of the multi-annual financial framework than it otherwise would have had under the pre-existing proposal that came from the Commission.

On the immediate issue of the application of just transition policies and funding to the midlands and to County Offaly specifically, the Deputy can take it that the Government is very focused on this. As she correctly outlined, provision was made in the July stimulus programme for €15 million for peat reclamation. In addition, under the Government's programme and the ring-fenced carbon fund that will be established, specific measures and funding will also be allocated, particularly to the midlands, to provide alternative employment to workers who will be losing jobs on an ongoing basis because of the policy and regulatory changes that have occurred at both domestic and European level entailed by our climate change objectives.

The issues pertaining to peat harvesting have, from a regulatory, planning and decision perspective, been accelerated compared with the original deadlines. As such we are very conscious of the issues and we are prioritising the midlands where allocation of just transition funds are concerned, to create new enterprises and alternative employment. That is why significant funding from the carbon fund will also go toward retrofitting initiatives. There is substantial funding going from the July stimulus programme to retrofitting initiatives to create employment. The midlands will be prioritised for the retrofitting scheme and for other measures to try to create new economic activity in the area. We will be relying predominantly on our own resources for the just transition fund, which will be allocated through both the general carbon fund and Exchequer resources to do everything we possibly can to create, to a large extent, an alternative economy in the midlands in the future and to do so in a phased way.

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