Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 to 15, inclusive, together.

The Government continues to prioritise and progress the shared island initiative. Our commitment is to work with all communities and political traditions for a shared future, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement. On 20 February, the Government announced the largest ever package of funding for cross-Border investments. This included a commitment of €600 million for the A5 north-west transport corridor and for progressing linked road projects in counties Donegal and Monaghan. The Government also made allocations this year from the shared island fund to contribute to the redevelopment of Casement Park in Belfast; to introduce from this autumn an hourly rail service between Dublin and Belfast; to move ahead with construction of the landmark Narrow Water bridge; to create a renewed visitor experience at the Battle of the Boyne site and; for new cross-Border co-operation schemes on enterprise development and tackling educational disadvantage.

I was delighted to be in Omeath, County Louth, on 4 June to mark the commencement of construction of the Narrow Water Bridge, a transformational project for tourism and the region, and to be in Clones, County Monaghan, on 19 June to visit the stunning new canal basin marina at an event to mark the completion of phase 2 of the Ulster Canal. The shared island fund is helping to facilitate the delivery of these landmark cross-Border infrastructure projects, both of which were commitments under the programme for Government and in the new decade, new approach agreement. These and the Government's other shared island investment commitments are taken forward by Ministers working with their Northern Ireland Executive and British Government counterparts and with local authority, education and civil society partners across the island. A full list of shared island funding projects is available on gov.ie.

The Government is also working to develop more investment opportunities with the Northern Ireland Executive, through the North-South Ministerial Council and with the British Government to deepen North-South and east-west relationships. I look forward to working with the new British Government in this regard, and, as co-guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement, to further developing connections between people across these islands. My Department’s shared island unit co-ordinates a wide-ranging research programme, the output of which will be very interesting. We are fostering inclusive civic dialogue on people’s common concerns across the island for the future in the areas of our economy, society, culture and in political terms.

The most recent ESRI shared island research report was published on 10 April on gender and labour market inclusion in Ireland and Northern Ireland. Further work by the ESRI has been commissioned on income distribution levels and tackling child poverty across the island. Both are due to be published later this year. The shared island youth forum, which I launched last September, brings together 80 young civic representatives aged 18-25. The forum has met nine times to develop an overall statement of its vision and values for a shared island, to be published in the autumn. A brilliant group of young people will share with us their views for the future of the island. The shared island dialogue series will also continue in the autumn, with contributions from people from a range of different perspectives on what achieving a more reconciled island requires in societal terms in the time ahead.

Through the shared island initiative, the Government is investing in quality of life and opportunity for people, North and South, and interacting with all communities on how we can better share this island we all love, however it may be constituted, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement.

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