Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the discussions he has had to date in relation to the establishment of a successor programme to the current Peace III Programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47137/12]

Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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A successor programme to the current PEACE programme is highly desirable given the importance that PEACE funding has played in the past in Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland. It is the Irish Government’s view that a successor PEACE programme should deliver sufficient funding to sustain important ongoing work and that the funding should be spent on projects in an independent way administered by the Special EU Programme Body. It is also considered crucial that the EU retains a sense of partnership via the PEACE fund in the Northern Ireland peace process. I am engaged in ongoing discussions with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on this matter.