Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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242. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will report on his attendance at the North-South Ministerial Council meeting on 5 December 2014. [47799/14]

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I attended the Plenary meeting of the North South Ministerial Council in Armagh on Friday, 5 December 2014.  The Taoiseach led the Irish Government delegation, while the First Minister and deputy First Minister led the delegation from the Northern Ireland Executive.  The First Minister and deputy First Minister chaired the meeting.

Among the matters discussed were the joint bid to host the Rugby World Cup in 2023, financial and economic matters, EU funding opportunities, child protection and e-safety, and a range of sectoral priorities.

During the discussion of EU funding opportunities I briefed the Council on progress in relation to the new PEACE and INTERREG Programmes. I am particularly pleased that the Irish Government was able to secure agreement for a new PEACE Programme during the negotiations on the 2014-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework, which took place under the Irish Presidency of the Council of Ministers last year and during which Ireland secured an 8% increase in its overall Structural Funds allocation.  I was able to report to the Council that the two draft programmes have been submitted to the European Commission and that discussions with the Commission are underway.  The two programmes will have a combined value of more than half a billion euro over the period 2014-2020.  It is my hope that the programmes can be adopted as soon as possible.