Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his answer and commend him on his work. He has been driving this programme forward and I thank him for engaging with me so often on this new and exciting PEACE programme that will deliver €1.1 billion in investment across this island, particularly in the Border counties, North and South. I mention some of the suggestions I brought to the Minister on working with the SEUPB, statutory agencies and community groups in my constituency and the Minister has provided for the type of issues we were hoping would be addressed.

I welcome the Minister's statement that the EU has approved the draft programme. Hopefully within a number of weeks it will be possible to put the final stamp of approval on it. I ask the Minister to give us an assurance that the preparatory work that statutory agencies and community groups have been engaged in will be allowed to continue so that no time is lost while we await a final approval in a few weeks' time.

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