Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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591. To ask the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources the EU funds his Department accesses; the plans he is putting in place to access these funds to a greater degree in view of Brexit; if he will outline initiatives he is pursuing to establish access to new funds in view of the challenge of Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8802/17]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent)
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The Government has a coordinated approach to Brexit managed centrally by the Department of An Taoiseach.

As outlined in An Taoiseach’s speech on 15 February, as a direct response to Brexit, the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform have been asked to prepare an ambitious multi-annual 10-year capital plan that will make Ireland a far better place in which to live and work.

That plan will make prudent and effective use of our own resources, as well as resources available to Ireland as a member of the European Union.

Discussions with the European Investment Bank, which recently opened an office in Dublin, have already taken place and are likely to lead to significant further investments in Ireland.

There are a number of streams of EU funding which my Department accesses.

In September 2015, the Government published its 6 year Capital Plan, Building on Recovery, which included an allocation of €275m for the National Broadband Plan. This will provide the initial stimulus required to deliver the Government's intervention and it is expected that further funding will be available over the lifetime of any contract(s).  Funding of €75m is committed through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); State expenditure of €150m is required before the €75m under the European Regional Development Fund can be drawn down.

In the energy sector the Better Energy Warmer Homes scheme, which provides free energy efficiency upgrades to the homes of people in energy poverty, is already co-funded under the ERDF. My Department continues to explore, along with the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, the other European funding opportunities that may potentially support the development of energy efficiency incentive schemes in Ireland.

My Department promotes and facilitates the administration of the EU LIFE Programme in Ireland.  In addition to traditional projects proposed by relevant bodies (Small and Medium Enterprises, Non-Government Organisations), the Department proposes, in the current 2014-2020 round of the Programme, to mobilise an integrated (State-sponsored) project on climate action.

The Geological Survey of Ireland (GSI), which comes under the remit of my Department, receives EU funds principally through project participation, where the UK may or may not be a partner and may or may not be critical to the projects. The GSI also participate in specific InterReg Projects where only Ireland, UK, Northern IrelandI Scotland and/or Wales are specific partners. The GSI have just commenced an InterReg Ireland Wales Project CHERISH (Climate Heritage & Environments of Reefs, Islands & Headlands) mapping and recording onshore and offshore heritage in the context of potential Climate Change effects. The project has a total grant value of just over €4.1m, with about €1.3m coming to the GSI over the period 2017-2021. Funding from the UK side has been assured in the event of any Brexit changes and the GSI continue to deal with the InterReg funding bodies.