Written answers

Tuesday, 15 October 2019

Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport

EU Funding

Photo of Éamon Ó CuívÉamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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571. To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the amount received by Ireland in TEN-T funding in each of the years since 2011; the projects that received the funding; when a decision will be made on the application by the Department to include the west of Ireland in the list of TEN- T eligible projects; the amount this is likely to bring in EU investment in infrastructure in the west of Ireland in the next five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42223/19]

Photo of Shane RossShane Ross (Dublin Rathdown, Independent)
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The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is the EU's funding instrument for the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) for the programming period 2014-2020. Funding under CEF is delivered in the form of grants allocated following competitive calls for proposals. As of June 2019, Irish beneficiaries participate in 24 projects and receive €103 million in CEF Transport co-funding, with total investments in these projects of €403.7 million. The EU funding provided is not readily available by year.

These include successful applications for the deployment of Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) and road transport projects with other Member States, which includes studies on the harmonisation of interoperable intelligent transport systems (ITS) and cooperative Intelligent transport systems (C-ITS).

Details of Ireland’s successful projects under the CEF programmed are available on the INEA website at the following weblink:

Details of Ireland’s successful projects for the programming period 2007-2013 are available at the following weblink:

In addition, the European Commission has recently recommended Donegal County Council for €4.335 million co-funding under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) 2019 call for proposals.

The project concerns the studies or preparatory work required to remove bottlenecks over a length of 31 km at three road sections in Co Donegal: Ballybofey to Stranorlar; Letterkenny to Manorcunningham; and Manorcunningham to Lifford/Strabane. This covers the designs and reports required to obtain the necessary statutory and other approvals to facilitate the future construction. The Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) is in the process of finalizing the grant agreement with Donegal County Council. The final co-funding amount will be contingent on this grant agreement and an agreed project and expenditure plan being implemented by the Council with INEA oversight.

Further details on the Donegal County Council project are available here:

With regard to transport infrastructure in the west of Ireland, the Deputy may wish to note that, in August 2019, honouring a Programme for a Partnership Government commitment, I made a submission to Commissioner Bulc on the matter of reviewing the TEN-T network in which I outlined national policy developments since the TEN-T Regulation came into force in 2013. These developments include the Government's National Development Plan and National Planning Framework, jointly referred to as Project Ireland 2040, and the implications of Brexit on Ireland's international connectivity.

The submission highlighted in particular the potential for increased geographical isolation of Ireland’s Western and Northwestern regions. I also pointed out that Brexit is likely to have regionally differentiated effects in Ireland and that a hard Brexit could hit Border counties particularly hard. Continued EU support for transport investment projects therefore becomes even more important in the context of Brexit, after which our peripheral location on the western point of Europe will leave us even more isolated from other EU Member States.

The submission also noted that the improvement of regional connectivity along the Western seaboard, linking together the major urban areas to allow the Atlantic Economic Corridor (AEC) achieve its potential, is a major priority for Government. In this regard, I highlighted the work of the AEC Taskforce, chaired by Seán Canney TD, Minister of State for Community Development, Natural Resources and Digital Development.

A copy of the submission can be accessed on my Department’s website at the following weblink:

Finally, EU Transport Commissioner,  Ms Violeta Bulc, wrote to EU Transport Ministers in February 2019, announcing that the European Commission is advancing the review of the TEN-T Network, which was due to take place no later than December 2023. This review process will include: an evaluation study, due to be completed in spring 2020; a public stakeholder consultation, which was open for contributions from April to July 2019; and targeted consultations with Member States and a wide range of stakeholders expected to take place during Q4 of 2019. Details on these consultations are yet to be confirmed but they will be an opportunity to elaborate further on the issues raised in the submission and to highlight other key priorities and possible amendments to the TEN-T guidelines that would be necessary in light of relevant developments since 2013.

The Commission intends to present the preliminary findings of the review process in May 2020, with a more detailed document envisaged for Summer 2020. Pending the findings of the review, a legislative proposal to amend the TEN-T Regulation may follow during 2021.

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