Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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27. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the reason only 30% of the strand 2 projects with respect to the delivery of the 47 projects of the National Just Transition Fund of €27.8 million have received their final offer from his Department despite it being almost 12 months since applications were made and six months since the announcement of successful projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36603/21]

Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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28. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the reason 70% of strand 2 projects as part of the National Just Transition Fund projects are not yet finalised and are not at contract stage; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36604/21]

Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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29. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if concerns that a number of Just Transition projects in County Offaly have encountered difficulties in accessing match funding raising questions of the viability of these projects; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that without the secured match funding in place these projects cannot commence and that this is creating frustrations among the communities involved who were enthusiastic at the beginning of the process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36605/21]

Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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31. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if concerns will be addressed that Offaly County Council is not in a position to provide direct funding to any Just Transition Fund project for match funding; the measures he will take to address these concerns; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36607/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 27, 28, 29 and 31 together.

The objective of the Just Transition Fund is to support innovative projects that contribute to the economic, social and environmental sustainability of the Midlands region, and which have employment and enterprise potential.

My Department held a competitive call for applications to this Fund last year, in response to which over 100 applications were received. Provisional offers were made to 63 projects, of which 34 have concluded funding agreements with my Department. Further information on these projects is available on www.gov.ie/en/publication/ed10d-just-transition-fund.  Remaining projects are currently at the final stages of verification and the majority of these projects are expected to have grant agreements in place by the end of July.

A number of projects which received provisional offers were at an early conceptual stage and required further development support by officials in my Department to structure projects in a way which aligns with the fund's requirements. In addition, significant time has been committed by my Department in engaging directly with individual projects to facilitate an open dialogue with project applicants to support them through this process.

As set out in the Department’s information booklet for its call for applications, all projects must include a minimum of 15% matching funding from sources other than the Just Transition Fund; that is the Fund will provide support up to a maximum of 85% of the project costs, subject to project compliance with state-aid rules. Matching funding is the responsibility of individual projects to source and may be in the form of a combination of other Exchequer-funded schemes and/or State-sector expenditure, Local Authority investment and/or land, EU funding sources, community investment, philanthropic contributions, private-sector investment, or other asset contributions. Where state aid rules apply, the Department is working directly with all affected projects to support them in fulfilling the relevant requirements.

Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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30. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if Ireland’s Territorial Plan due to be submitted to Europe in September 2021 as a requirement for access to the EU Just Transition Fund for the period 2021-2027 will be submitted by that date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36606/21]

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The EU Just Transition Fund is designed to support the most affected regions in EU Member States to meet the challenges associated with achieving the EU's climate targets for 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050. The Just Transition Fund will invest in specific projects that will contribute to alleviating the impact of the transition by financing the diversification and modernisation of the local economy and by mitigating the negative repercussions on employment.  In order to access the Just Transition Fund, Ireland must prepare a Territorial Just Transition Plan for approval by the European Commission. The Territorial Plan will define the regions eligible for funding and the measures to be funded, in line with the relevant EU regulation. The Department is working on developing the Plan and this is expected to be completed before the end of the year.

The Department has been supported to develop the Territorial Plan through technical assistance under the European Commission’s Structural Reform Support Programme. Consultants were selected by the Commission to assist in developing an evidence base to inform the selection of investment priorities for inclusion in the Territorial Plan.  The consultants have already had extensive engagements with national and regional stakeholders to inform their work, through one-to-one interviews, written submissions and online group workshops. Key stakeholders engaged during this phase include the Just Transition Commissioner, the Midlands Regional Transition Team, Local Authorities, Regional Assemblies, ICTU, BnM, ESB, relevant Government Departments, NESC, IDA, Enterprise Ireland, Solas and the Education and Training Boards.  It is intended to hold a public consultation on a draft of the territorial plan in the Autumn.