Results 10,561-10,580 of 16,679 for speaker:Peadar Tóibín

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: Would the witnesses like to address these points?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: Go raibh míle maith agaibh as na cur i láthair go léir. You have given us serious food for thought. The witnesses have taken long journeys to be with us today and we really do appreciate that. The contents of both the presentations and the questions will make their way into a report we will complete in the next couple of weeks and hopefully add to other committees that are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: I welcome the following to the meeting, Ms Gina McIntyre, chief executive office, Mr. Shaun Henry, director of the managing authority, and Mr. John Greer, head of unit joint secretariat, from the Special EU Programmes Body, Foras um Chláir Speisialta an tAontas Eorpach. I thank the witnesses for their attendance today. We appreciate it. I apologise to them that there are not more...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: Go raibh maith agat. I thank Ms McIntryre for her presentation. I will start with a few questions on it. The witness mentioned the potential for a funding stream to still come from the EU after 2022, but that question is still in the air. We do not really know exactly what the arrangement will be for that fund. The fund is a big one at €500 million over six years for 12 counties...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: Okay, I have another question that I have also asked the previous group. The national framework document is the spatial planning process. For me it is probably one of the most important actions this Government will be involved in. Has the Special EU Programmes Body been engaged with that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: That is a pity. With such a big chunk of money and opportunity would it perhaps be a good idea if there was a stronger relationship there?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: Ms McIntyre mentioned that a good deal of the funding is for infrastructural or transport connectivity. Are projects such as the A5 too big for the Special EU Programmes Body specification?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: Okay.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: Senator O'Donnell mentioned earlier to our previous witnesses that outside of the target areas there are probably very few citizens who would know exactly the amount of money involved or about the activities funded by the Special EU Programmes Body. Sometimes the knowledge about programmes among people is very important for the sustainability of projects ahead. Does Ms McIntyre have any...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: I had a great opportunity last year to write a report on the future of the all-island economy. It was the first time the Oireachtas had written such a report since the partition of the island, which is incredible. I spoke to 100 different groups from across the island of Ireland, from different backgrounds and with people who would not necessarily be focused on this issue. One thing that...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: It would seem logical for the two Administrations to do a systematic trawl through all the organisations that deliver services in similar areas and state that their future funding, etc., will be dependent upon them finding economies of scale or synergies between them. The delivery of those services to the citizen, be they in Strabane or in Stranorlar, would probably be a lot better.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: This €500 million fund was set aside before the Brexit nightmare arose on the horizon. Given the work of the Special EU Programmes Body it is ideally placed in focusing investment in that space. I know there is not an organisation on the planet that does not want more money but would logic dictate that because of this threat we as a society should seek to accelerate and increase the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: I appreciate that. I call Deputy Smyth first.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: There is a similar argument with Horizon 2020 and all the various funds. It is almost as if an industry has developed within society in an effort to draw down these funds. I have some questions on the specifics of the process. One of the SEUPB areas of competence relates to renewable energy. There are two jurisdictions and, therefore, two distinct regulatory experiences. In the North,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: The earlier thrust of my questions was about the level of co-operation but is there any group in society tasked with the objective of the equalisation of regulation? That in itself is a real barrier to cross-Border trade, cross-Border enterprise and cross-Border development?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: Is Mr. Henry saying that the secretariat would be involved in that work of the North-South Ministerial Council? From my knowledge it would not be an objective of each of the particular Ministers to equalise regulation on both sides of the Border.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: I was lucky enough to work as a management consultant for a company that was delivering one of the programmes in the Tyrone-Monaghan area. It brought me into the offices and sitting rooms of so many small businesses on both sides of the community. People from both sides of the community had suffered greatly and it opened my eyes to a lot of individual experiences of members from both sides...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: I know we had a representation from ISME. It was looking at the enterprise organisations in the State which actually only cover a minority of the enterprises. Obviously IDA, foreign direct investment and Enterprise Ireland would only take a small chunk of the 600,000 indigenous enterprises in the South and 250,000 of those may be covered by Enterprise Ireland and the rest are left to their...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: Do members have any other questions?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Heritage, Regional, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs: Development and Co-operation in Border Counties: Discussion (6 Apr 2017)

Peadar Tóibín: Before we finish, does Deputy Michael Collins wish to comment?