Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Funding of €1 million was awarded to the project concerned under the National Just Transition Fund, on condition that matching funding of €2.1 million, or 68% of the total project cost, be secured. The grant agreement with this project, concluded in January 2022, anticipated a final completion date for the project as 31 December 2023, with final payment drawdowns facilitated until 30 June 2024.

All grant agreements under the National Just Transition Fund require submission of annual reports on project progress. Information provided by the project concerned at the beginning of this year indicated that the project was not progressing as anticipated under the grant agreement and follow-up meetings with my officials were, therefore, arranged to determine if the project remained viable. The project subsequently reported to my Department that it had been experiencing ongoing difficulties in securing the required matching funding to ensure delivery of the project as anticipated in the grant agreement.

My Department invited the project, in June of this year, to apply for an extension to the project completion date. In line with other projects which had reported delivery challenges, inter alia due to the pandemic and inflationary pressures, my Department has indicated that completion deadlines for projects could be extended to June 2024 with final payment drawdowns facilitated until December 2024. My Department also requested that such applications be accompanied by relevant supporting documentation, including an updated drawdown schedule confirming the project’s intention to submit final drawdown claims by 31 October 2024, for disbursement by December 2024.

A further update was sought from this project in September, including confirmation that construction had commenced and that matching funding had been secured. On 24 October, the project submitted an application to my Department for an extension to its completion deadline and advised that fundraising activities were underway to secure matching funding.

On 13 November my Department confirmed to the project that payment disbursements could be extended until 31 December 2024 subject to the project submitting relevant supporting documentation, including details of any necessary project re-scoping to ensure its delivery within the available timeframe, a projected drawdown schedule facilitating final disbursement in December 2024, and confirmation of matching funding in place.

My Department remains available to co-operate with the project to help deliver as much as possible of the project in time for payment drawdowns to be completed by December 2024.