Written answers

Tuesday, 1 December 2020

Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment

Just Transition Fund

Photo of Joe FlahertyJoe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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157. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if there will be further calls for funding from the scheme following the recent funding announcements for the midland counties, including County Longford, under the just transition programme in 2021, 2022 and 2023 through to at least 2025, as the region deserves sustained investment given that it will pay a heavy price in the move towards decarbonisation. [40176/20]

Photo of Eamon RyanEamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Last week provisional offers of funding totalling €27.8 million were made to 47 projects in the Midlands through the Just Transition Fund. This is in addition to the €1.2 million announced for 16 projects in the Midlands in September. These projects will contribute to the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the Midlands region. The funding for these projects will be spread over three years and projects must be completed by the end of 2023.

The Government also approved funding of €108 million last week for Bord na Móna’s large-scale peatlands restoration project. A further €18 million will be committed to the project by Bord na Móna.

The Government is committed to ensuring a just transition in the Midlands. The Programme for Government affirms the necessity for a just transition pathway to be found, which delivers alternative job opportunities to sectors and regions most affected, and ensures that vulnerable groups are helped, as transformative policies are implemented. The Government recognises that the transition out of peat in the Midlands is the first test of a just transition for Ireland, arising from an accelerated exit from peat harvesting in the area.

As part of the EU Green Deal, the European Commission has proposed the establishment of an EU Just Transition Fund to provide support to the economies, people and the environment of territories facing serious socio-economic challenges arising from the transition process towards the EU’s 2030 climate targets and a climate-neutral economy by 2050.

Investments by Member States under the EU Just Transition Fund must be underpinned by a Territorial Just Transition Plan, covering the period 2021 to 2027, which must be approved by the European Commission and implemented within the regulatory framework for the European Structural and Investment Funds as part of EU cohesion policy. Work on this plan has commenced in my Department, and this work will also be supported by technical assistance under the European Commission’s Structural Reform Support Programme.

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