Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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35. To ask the Minister for Rural and Community Development the proposals, if any, there are to implement programmes on a cross-Border basis that are of a particular importance to rural communities; if her Department, its agencies and their counterparts in Northern Ireland will avail of funding under the PEACE PLUS programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62768/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Our Rural Future is the national policy for the development of rural Ireland and guides the government’s approach to building vibrant and sustainable rural communities across the country, including in border regions. In this regard, my department meets with rural development counterparts in the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs via the North-South Rural Policy Forum. The Forum was established following a commitment in Our Rural Future and meets twice yearly to share information and experiences and discuss areas of potential cooperation across the many areas of commonality between the two jurisdictions.

The recently launched National Outdoor Recreation Strategy (NORS) provides a vision and an overarching framework for the growth and development of outdoor recreation in Ireland. The strategy includes a number of key Actions which require an All-Island approach, including the exploration of cross-border cooperation on key initiatives (eg. Ulster Canal Greenway) through programmes such as the PEACE PLUS Programme and the Shared Island Initiative.

The EU PEACE PLUS programme 2021 - 2027 was approved by the government, the NI Executive and the North South Ministerial Council in October 2021, following which it was submitted to the EU Commission for consideration. The Commission agreed and adopted the PEACE PLUS programme in July 2022. The finance agreement with the UK Government for the new programme is under discussion and the programme is expected to be launched early in 2023 with an indicative budget of over €1.14 billion.

The PEACE PLUS programme area includes Northern Ireland and the border counties of Ireland (Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Cavan, Monaghan and Louth). However, in a change from previous PEACE programmes, activities can involve partners and activity outside the programme area, subject to certain conditions.

My department is a designated Accountable Department for certain measures under the PEACE PLUS programme. It is anticipated that investment totaling €375m will be made in the programme area, under these measures, over the lifetime of the programme.

My department hosted a number of information sessions during 2021 and 2022 on the new programme with the border local authorities and is currently working with the SEUPB and relevant NI Departments on the preparation of guidance documents and calls for applications for relevant measures under the programme, which will open shortly after the launch of the programme.

Earlier this year, I announced indicative allocations totaling €28m to the six border local authorities to enable them to commence the preparation of their respective local authority action plans under the PEACE Plus Programme.

The SEUPB have hosted a number of pre-application support workshops on PEACE PLUS and my department has presented on Investment Areas for which it is responsible at these workshops.

Full details on the development of the PEACE PLUS Programme and pre-application support workshop recordings are available on the SEUPB website.