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

The programme for Government sets out the Government's commitments on a shared island and to working with all communities and traditions on the island to build consensus around a shared future underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement. On 22 October, I set out the Government's vision and priorities on a shared island in an online event at Dublin Castle. More than 800 people participated online, comprising a broad range of civil society, community, sectoral and political representatives throughout the island of Ireland and in Britain.

A shared island unit has been established in my Department and the unit is focusing its work in three areas, namely, commissioning research, fostering dialogue and building a shared island agenda, including delivery of the commitments in the programme for Government. The unit is developing a comprehensive research programme and will work with the Economic and Social Research Institute and other partners. North-South and east-west collaboration will be an important part of this work.

My Department has also asked the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, to prepare a comprehensive report on shared island issues in 2021. This will provide valuable input from economic, social and environmental partners. Strengthening social, economic and political links on the island and the promotion of all-island approaches to the strategic challenges facing Ireland, North and South, are key objectives for this work. On 22 October, I launched the shared island dialogue series to foster constructive and inclusive civic dialogue on all aspects of a shared future on the island. The series will start on Thursday, 26 November, with a dialogue on "New generations and new voices on the Good Friday Agreement".

The dialogue series will focus on important issues for people on the island in the years ahead, such as the environment, health, education and the economy, and key civic concerns that are addressed in the Good Friday Agreement, including identity and equality. The initiative will actively seek as broad a range of perspectives and experiences from civil society on the island as possible, with a focus on the inclusion of voices that have been under-represented in the peace process, including women, young people and new communities on the island.

I have had constructive engagement with the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, on the Government's shared island objectives and commitments. I have made it clear that we are happy also to engage on an east-west basis as we take this work forward. In budget 2021, the Government announced the shared island fund, with a planned €500 million to be made available out to 2025. The fund provides significant new, multi-annual capital funding for investment on a strategic basis in collaborative North-South projects that will support the commitments and objective of the Good Friday Agreement.

The Government is working in partnership with the Northern Ireland Executive through the North-South Ministerial Council, including to progress key cross-Border investment projects that are part of our shared island commitments in the programme for Government. These were discussed at the North-South Ministerial Council plenary in Dublin on 31 July. An update on progress will be provided to the next plenary meeting in December.

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