Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Question 204: To ask the Minister for Transport if EU or other peace process funding is available for North-South rail projects. [6302/05]

Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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The Belfast-Dublin-Cork rail corridor has been designated by the European Commission as a priority trans-European network-transport route or TEN-T and, therefore, qualifies for funding under the TEN-T priority programme.

There has been investment in the past under the North-South INTERREG programme which attracted EU funding for certain infrastructural projects, such as bus stations in Border regions. More recently, as a flagship cross-Border project under the EU INTERREG IIIA Community Initiative, the Dublin-Belfast rail line is receiving €980,253 in funding to relay the rail track at Moira and Portadown in Northern Ireland.

Two projects on the Dublin-Belfast line have been supported by the EU programme for peace and reconciliation, commonly known as PEACE II. Translink, Northern Ireland Railways, received €2,306,237 to improve signalling at Lurgan and €4,894,899 to upgrade the level crossings at Moira and Trummery.

Both the PEACE II and INTERREG IIIA programmes are managed by the special EU programmes body — a North-South implementation body which was set up under the Good Friday Agreement. While there are no current EU funds available for North-South rail projects under the Cohesion Fund or the economic and social infrastructure programme, the cross-Border Dublin-Belfast inter-city rail services, operated jointly by Iarnród Éireann and Translink, benefited from an earlier round of EU funding.