Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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131. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he has received assurance from his counterpart in the UK Government of a solid commitment to uphold and underpin the Good Friday Agreement (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36505/16]

Declan Breathnach (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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132. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if the commitments under the INTERREG and PEACE programmes up until 2020 will be fully honoured as indicated to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement by a representative from SEUPB on 17 November 2016; if he will commence the development of a model of funding post-Brexit to accommodate project funding streams between EU and non-EU governments; if such a model will be agreed and in place to provide certainty to the funding programmes that are to come into place post-2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36508/16]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 131 and 132 together.

Ireland and the UK are currently partners in three EU-funded cross-border Cooperation Programmes with a total value of €650 million over the period 2014-2020:

- PEACE Programme - €269 million;

- Ireland/Northern Ireland/Scotland INTERREG Programme - €282 million;

- Ireland/Wales Programme - €99 million.

These programmes are 85% funded by the EU through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under the European Union's Cohesion Policy.

Following discussions with the Department of Finance in Northern Ireland and the Welsh European Funding Office, agreement has now been reached on a form of wording that will enable funding agreements to be put in place and Letters of Offer to issue to programme beneficiaries for both PEACE and the two INTERREG Programmes. 

In particular, it has been agreed that Letters of Offer will include a provision that if, as a consequence of the UK leaving the EU, the UK element of ERDF funding is no longer available, the letters will be covered by the UK Treasury's financial commitment in respect of EU-funded programmes, even when specific projects continue beyond the UK's departure from the EU.

It has also been agreed that programmes and projects will continue to be subject to EU Regulations.

These provisions are now being included in the Letters of Offer to programme beneficiaries that are being issued by the Special EU Programmes Body.  They will have the effect of Brexit-proofing them to the greatest extent possible and giving programme beneficiaries the confidence they need to proceed with the implementation of projects.

As regards programmes post-2020, work on the EU regulatory framework for the 2021-2028 round of Structural Funds, including PEACE and INTERREG, will get underway in earnest in 2019. Obviously the UK exiting the EU will have implications for the two programmes and for the available budget at an EU level.

Nevertheless, the Irish Government has already been clear that it is committed to successor programmes to the current North South programmes, and my officials have already commenced work on the possible shape of such programmes once the UK leaves the EU.