Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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382. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the EU funds her Department accesses; the plans she is putting in place to access these funds to a greater degree in view of Brexit; if she will outline initiatives she is pursuing to establish access to new funds in view of the challenge of Brexit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8800/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The only EU funding directly accessed by my Department are LIFE Programme funds. The LIFE programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment and climate action. The general objective of LIFE is to contribute to the implementation, updating and development of EU environmental and climate policy and legislation by co-financing projects with European added value. The Department receives funding for a number of projects under this programme including the ARAN LIFE programme, the KERRY LIFE programme and a programme to restore Active Raised Bogs in Ireland’s SAC Network 2016.

An internal working group has been established within my Department with a view to identifying the opportunities and challenges around Brexit, including any impact on EU funding streams. My Department is also participating in an inter-Departmental Group on UK-EU relations, chaired by the Department of An Taoiseach, with members drawn from all Government Departments and a number of other bodies such as the Central Bank.

My Department continues to seek to advance priority investment projects on an ongoing basis and particularly in the context of the annual Estimates process and the periodic reviews of Expenditure which occur from time to time.