Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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3. To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the working of the shared island unit in his Department. [19262/23]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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4. To ask the Taoiseach the costs associated with the running of the shared island unit in his Department. [19264/23]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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5. To ask the Taoiseach if he will list the projects funded by the shared island unit of his Department since he took office. [19265/23]

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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6. To ask the Taoiseach if he will detail what investments have been made through the shared island unit of his Department in the north west and Border regions. [19266/23]

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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7. To ask the Taoiseach the average costs associated with the running of the shared island unit in his Department. [20294/23]

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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8. To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the work of the shared island unit of his Department. [20296/23]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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9. To ask the Taoiseach if he will provide an update on the working of the shared island unit in his Department. [20374/23]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 to 9, inclusive, together.

As provided for in the programme for Government, we are progressing the shared island initiative, to benefit the whole island by working with all communities and traditions for a shared future, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement. This involves: unprecedented all-island investment through our €1 billion shared island fund; engaging with all communities through a comprehensive dialogue series on how we could better share the island; and commissioning research to deepen understanding of the whole island in economic, social, cultural and political terms.

The Government has so far allocated €191 million from the fund. With this resourcing, we are moving ahead with long-standing commitments, like the Ulster Canal and the Narrow Water bridge, and with new investments that meet the objectives under the revised national development plan to create a more connected, sustainable and prosperous island for all communities.

New initiatives that have been funded from the shared island fund include a €50 million contribution to the North-South research programme; €15 million for electric vehicle charging points at sports clubs across the island; €5 million seed funding to develop new cross-Border local authority investment projects; and €11 million for all-island actions on peatland restoration and biosecurity.

Projects are taken forward by Ministers and their Departments, working through all-island partnerships, including with counterparts in the North and the UK, and with local authorities, educational institutions and civil society. A full list of shared island fund allocations can be provided to Deputies by correspondence.

Shared island unit costs primarily relate to the research programme and dialogue series with approximately €620,000 in expenditure on the shared island research programme and €200,000 on the shared island dialogue series in 2022. A full outline can be provided in tabular format for last year.

The programme for Government affirms the Government’s commitment to greater investment in the north west and Border regions. There have been a series of shared island fund allocations for existing and new investment projects, including on tourism and innovation, which signifies significant funding in the region. Institutions have also successfully applied for funding through the shared island local authority development funding scheme and the North-South research programme. Specifically in the north west, the Government is working to move ahead this year with our commitment under the New Decade, New Approach agreement to capital investment at Ulster University’s campus in Derry to expand provision for young people in the region.

We are firmly committed to capital investment in the A5 road upgrade, as provided for under the New Decade, New Approach agreement, and hope to see this progress without undue delay.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputies will have about a minute and a half on these.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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The North is in the middle of an horrendous economic crisis at the moment. Poverty levels are increasing, at 300,000 people. Hospital waiting lists are increasing, at nearly 450,000 people, and the number of people homeless, without a house, is increasing at 45,000 people. The collateral damage to families by the undemocratic Democratic Unionist Party's boycott of Stormont is absolutely horrendous. In the middle of this, MLAs who are not doing their job are taking their wages, which has cost £4 million so far since the Stormont election. The only political actions they have taken is to increase the council rates on people. Rates have gone up by as much as 8%. Sinn Féin, the DUP, Alliance and the UUP are hiking rates on families who are hardly able to survive at the moment.

The real frustration is that on top of this, the British Government is introducing an austerity budget imposing cuts of up to 20% on families at the moment. There will be deaths as a result of this British austerity budget. There will be economic misery. It will shred the very fabric of families and communities across the North of Ireland. It has been done seemingly to punish the DUP but it will have the effect of punishing everybody who lives in the North of Ireland. In the Taoiseach's discussions with Rishi Sunak and through the shared island project, what is the Government doing to stop the British punishing the people of the North of Ireland at this time?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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We will have to go to about a minute each.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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Last Wednesday saw tens of thousands of workers striking in Northern Ireland. It was the biggest strike there in ten years. The strike involved four civil service unions and five teacher unions defending pay in the face of cost-of-living crisis. More than 2,000 workers attended the strike rally at Belfast City Hall. Meanwhile, Oxfam has advised that workers in the Republic of Ireland have suffered a 3.9% pay cut as wages lagged behind inflation over the past year, that the average worker lost more than €2,000 and that the working population as a whole lost on incredible €5 billion. Given that the Government has failed to defend workers' living standards, is it not time for working people in this part of our shared island to follow the example of their Northern Ireland counterparts?

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The north west suffers from historically poor transport connectivity and this continues to impact on innovation, the creation of good jobs, a just transition and cost burdens on families and businesses. There is currently no motorway, no direct rail line or air route from Dublin to Derry, the fourth largest city on the island. As we know the New Decade, New Approach Agreement commits to an air connectivity review, which includes the Dublin to Derry route. Some 40% of the passengers who use Derry Airport are from County Donegal. It has connections to London, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Glasgow as well as a number of other locations in Europe and services a population of 500,000. Reopening the Dublin to Derry air route would create enormous economic and social opportunities for the north west and particularly for counties Donegal and Derry. We need to make sure that we lift the block at the moment on what is a modest budget by the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform for public spending on a public good that we all agree will have an economic and social benefit for the north west and the island as a whole.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I very much welcome the success of the shared island initiative to date. I welcome the funding for a project in my constituency, namely the Ulster Canal, which will bring economic benefits to many counties in Ulster. As the Taoiseach may recall from his days at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, I have continually raised the value of developing enterprise centres and business hubs in towns and smaller communities where it is not possible to attract inward investment. We have had the development of different enterprise centres throughout counties Cavan and Monaghan that have been key to the growth in jobs locally. One issue that arises all the time for local authorities is their inability from a financial point of view to prepare sites and put services on them to draw down the Enterprise Ireland funding that is available for the actual development of an incubation unit or enterprise centre. Thankfully, some time ago, the then Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, sanctioned what was known as cross-Border investment proposals where local authorities such as those in Cavan and Monaghan with a number of their counterparts in Northern Ireland work together on specific plans to put together projects to avail of shared island funding in the enterprise space and the development of enterprise centres and business hubs for Border counties, North and South. I would appreciate if that particular area could be given urgent and favourable consideration.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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I raise with the Taoiseach the fate of Iceland workers who now have very different conditions on this island. The company has sold its stores in the South while retaining the stores in the North. Staff in the South were told nothing about the fact that their employment was being transferred and they are now working for a franchisee of Iceland. Clearly, the workers should be covered by the transfer of undertakings legislation. They should be guaranteed the same terms and conditions but that has not happened. Workers have been left weeks without being paid. One worker was owed 110 hours, including holiday pay, with children to feed. Conditions have dramatically worsened with electricity turned off in stores, workers left without air conditioning in extremely warm stores. The company has not engaged with their union, the Independent Workers Union. Workers have balloted for strike action. Does the Taoiseach agree that the workers' terms and conditions must be guaranteed? The company should give that guarantee and should engage with workers and their union representatives.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I wish to follow up on my earlier comments and questions to the Taoiseach and his statement at the opening of this session. His vision of a shared island is all about canals and bridges, tourism, enterprise, innovation and research.

That is fair enough but we should prioritise health and, in this case, women's health. It must be a source of embarrassment that, having fought a campaign to give women access to full reproductive health that we now find ourselves lagging behind Northern Ireland. I would have thought that the Taoiseach would feel more uncomfortable about that than he does about the review and the attempt for us to change the laws around it. I ask the Taoiseach to comment on whether his discomfort to change the laws is not as important as guaranteeing women access to all healthcare, both North and South.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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The North has been given a temporary reprieve, we understand, for a £300 million overspend but it is reported today that Stormont officials from the Northern Ireland Fiscal Council believes that £800 million needs to be found. This is a shortfall which will be devastating for public services in Northern Ireland if this is not resolved. It demonstrates the urgent need for an Executive to be formed.

It raises questions for the shared island unit. Can the Taoiseach comment on whether the unit, or, indeed, the Government has considered how best to proceed to establish a fund to pay for a future united Ireland and how to ensure that there is sufficient capital there for investment in cross-Border projects?

On a separate issue, I wish to raise the situation in Sudan again with the Taoiseach. Can he reassure us that all Irish citizens there are being supported to safety and, indeed, are we also assisting citizens from Northern Ireland who may be in Sudan? Will there continue to be humanitarian corridors for civilians from all countries to leave safely from the dreadful conflict which is going on there?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I was canvassing in Derry and Strabane for the People Before Profit candidates over the past couple of weeks and I wish to mention a couple of issues which were of concern in that north-west area.

First, on the Ulster University Magee campus, there have been promises after promises about expanding the investment and the capacity to build up that university, particularly when many people are leaving that area. Those promises have come to very little despite being made repeatedly. The case for investment in Magee was impressed strongly on me, as also was the anger over the reduced programming of BBC Radio Foyle and what a fantastic local service it provides for the Derry area.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Government believes, in respect of the budget announcement by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, that the people of Northern are entitled to a functioning Assembly and Executive and to be fully represented by the politicians they elected in May of last year. In recent weeks we have seen cuts to services which will affect the people of Northern Ireland adversely. The budget places difficult decisions in the hands of civil servants and we believe that it is vital that an Executive is in place as soon as possible so it can make the right decisions that respond to the needs of people North of the Border.

As Deputy Tóibín pointed out, Northern Ireland is facing an economic, social and fiscal crisis and this is further evidence when one sees the contrast between the UK's budgetary position and ours that we have made the right choices economically and have a much better economic model. We have full employment, rising levels of public expenditure every year, rising incomes and we have a budget surplus. The biggest threat to that would be any fundamental change to our economic policy or our European policy and I hope that does not happen in this country.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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We do not have rising incomes.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Last year, but that was because of inflation. Incomes will rise in real terms this year and they have risen in real terms almost every year for the past five or six years.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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Were incomes rise this year?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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They will rise this year, yes, in real terms, but we will not know that until next year because of the way statistics work.

On where the Government stands on this, we want to help the people of Northern Ireland and the Executive if and when it is established. We have the shared island fund which we can use to help in different ways. We have the PEACE PLUS programme from the European Union; €1 billion will be in that fund. We have made commitments, for example, on projects like the A5. We can make other commitments also. We want to help, certainly, if the Executive can be back up and running again.

On Deputy Barry's remarks earlier, if I understand him correctly he was encouraging workers in Ireland to go on strike like they are doing in Britain and Northern Ireland. I would not encourage that. It is causing huge disruption and inconvenience to people in Northern Ireland and in Britain and I am glad that we are not having the kinds of strikes which they are having in the UK at the moment.

There are fundamental differences. Pay in the UK is lower than it is in Ireland and, by and large, over the past five to ten years, pay in Ireland increased faster than inflation. That was not the case in the same way in the UK. That is a pretty fundamental difference. The other is that we have a central pay mechanism. We negotiate a deal with public sector workers in the round and in one go and that is a much better model than in the UK where it is done by a pay review body. The approach we have avoids strike action by and large and means by and large that workers get pay increases which exceed inflation. This was not true every year but has been broadly true over the past five to ten years. That is a good model and one we should keep.