Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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274. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if the withdrawal of EU funding for the Maze Long Kesh site has been raised at the recent European Council meeting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47685/13]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Special EU Programmes Body is the Managing Authority for the North South structural funds programmes, including the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation (PEACE III).

The Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister applied for funding under Theme 2.2 of the PEACE III Programme for a project to develop a Peace-building and Conflict Resolution Centre at the Maze Long Kesh site. This application was successful and SEUPB issued a Letter of Offer in 2012. It was recognised at time of the funding award that the timescales for completion of the project within PEACE III timeframes were very tight.

Concerns about the viability of the project arose during 2013 and SEUPB commenced discussions with the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister regarding these concerns. On foot of these discussions, it was agreed that the project was no longer viable at this time and on 1 October 2013 SEUPB rescinded the Letter of Offer. The SEUPB is now focussing on re-allocating the funding to suitable projects to ensure that EU funding is not lost to Northern Ireland and Ireland.

The European Council does not have a role in managing EU structural funds programmes such as PEACE III.