Written answers
Monday, 9 September 2024
Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government
Capital Expenditure Programme
Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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826.To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government for an update on Construction of the Narrow Water Bridge; to provide the total allocation; the expenditure to date; the amount that is contained with expenditure ceilings laid out in the Stability Programme Update and Summer Economic Statement and the amount that will have to come from additional funding; the date the project was started; and the projected date of completion, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter.[34819/24]
Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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827.To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government for an update on Phases 2 and 3 of the Ulster Canal restoration contribution; to provide the total allocation; the expenditure to date; the amount that is contained with expenditure ceilings laid out in the Stability Programme Update and Summer Economic Statement and the amount that will have to come from additional funding; the date the project was started; and the projected date of completion, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter.[34820/24]
Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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828.To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government for an update on Cross-border innovation hub; to provide the total allocation; the expenditure to date; the amount that is contained with expenditure ceilings laid out in the Stability Programme Update and Summer Economic Statement and the amount that will have to come from additional funding; the date the project was started; and the projected date of completion, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter.[34821/24]
Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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829.To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government for an update on the all-island peatlands and biosecurity projects; the total allocation; the expenditure to date; the amount that is contained with expenditure ceilings laid out in the Stability Programme Update and Summer Economic Statement and the amount that will have to come from additional funding; the date the project was started; and the projected date of completion, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter.[34822/24]
Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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830.To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government to provide an update on the shared island local authority development funding scheme; to provide the total allocation; the expenditure to date; the amount that is contained with expenditure ceilings laid out in the Stability Programme Update and Summer Economic Statement and the amount that will have to come from additional funding; the date the project was started; and the projected date of completion, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter.[34823/24]
Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 826 to 830, inclusive, together.
The details requested on the Shared Island projects under the remit of my Department are outlined in the table.
| Update on Shared Island Funding PQ Reference | Name of Fund | Total Allocation | Expenditure to Date | Start date of project | Projected date of completion | Statement | Amount that is contained with expenditure ceilings laid out in the Stability Programme Update and Summer Economic Statement | Amount that will have to come from additional funding |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PQ 34819/24 | Construction of the Narrow Water Bridge. | Tender price €102,000,000 (plus VAT) | €14,739,902.72 | 2023 | 2028 | The landmark Narrow Water Bridge is a longstanding commitment of the Government, reflected in the Programme for Government and New Decade, New Approach agreement. | ||
| PQ 34820/24 | Phases 2 and 3 of the Ulster Canal Restoration contribution. | Cost is estimated at €110,000,000 | €28,828,664.00 (incl. VAT) | 2015 | 2028/2029 | This transformational capital project will connect the Ulster Canal by navigable waterway to the Erne System and onward to the wider connected waterway network of the Shannon Erne Waterway, the Shannon Navigation, the Royal and Grand Canals towards Dublin and further south along the Barrow Line and Barrow Navigation. The Ulster Canal is funded by my Department, the Shared Island Initiative and by the Department of Rural and Community Development. | ||
| PQ 34821/24 | Cross-Border Innovation Hub. | €12,000,000 | €1,349,405.98 | 2022 | TBC | My Department is responsible for managing the Government’s commitment to provide support from the Shared Island Fund to Donegal County Council for construction of a co-located North West Innovation Hub in Letterkenny. The contribution to the project will be provided to Donegal 2040 Strategic Development Company Designated Activity Company (DAC) through the Vote of my Department, subject to adherence to the Infrastructure Guidelines (formally the Public Spending Code) and appropriate governance and performance measures. On 12 January 2024, my Department issued approval to Donegal 2040 DAC to proceed to tender for the project. However, Donegal County Council informed my Department in Q2 this year that the tender process was terminated due to the lack of any suitable responses. A recommendation from the Council on the next steps to progress the delivery of this project is expected in Q3 2024. | ||
| PQ 34822/24 | All-Island Peatlands Project. | €15,000,000 (€10,000,000 Shared Island funding, €5,000,000 from DHLGH) | €2,010,625.35 | 2023 | 2028 | The project aims to build capacity at local and national levels through upskilling, training and education programmes and restoration work. Sites in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland have been chosen to deliver practical peatland restoration, build capacity for long-term peatland management, undertake research and monitoring, exchange knowledge, and address socio-cultural issues across a range of restoration scenarios. | ||
| PQ 34822/24 | All-Island Biosecurity Project. | €1,000,000 | €250,000 | 2023 | 2029 | The Shared Island Invasive Species and Biosecurity Initiative provides a framework to coordinate a Shared Island response to the threat posed by invasive species. The project is implemented by the National Biodiversity Data Centre (NBDC) and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), with oversight from the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) of my Department. The key outcomes of the Initiative are the delivery of: a strategic all-island risk assessment and trend analysis on invasive species; a biosecurity awareness plan; catchment level aquatic management measures in six cross-border regions; all-island alignment of current and future pathway action and contingency plans; a citizen science invasive species programme; and Shared Island invasive species conferences. The project will develop Shared Island plans and support measures to ensure joined-up strategies and coordination and to reduce the burden of cost to each of the administrations, north and south. It will complement and enable the cross-border plans to address invasive alien species under theme 5.1 of the Peace Plus programme and will contribute directly to implementation of the investment objective in the Shared Island chapter of the revised NDP on “Supporting more all-island approaches to biodiversity protection, building on the success of the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan”. | ||
| PQ 34823/24 | Shared Island Local Authority Development Fund. | €5,000,000 | €3,770,663.30 | The call for proposals was issued on 4 April 2022. The funding drawdown phase started on 1 January 2023. | 2024 | In September 2022, the Government’s Shared Island Local Authority Development funding scheme, which is administered by my Department, supported a number of feasibility assessments by local authorities, on potential cross-border projects across a range of sectors including biodiversity, heritage, tourism, and cultural and creative industries. My Department and the Shared Island Unit in the Department of the Taoiseach are engaging at present with each of the Local Authority partners on their feasibility reports to discuss how local authorities could take agreed projects forward to a further stage of development on a collaborative cross-border basis, working with the relevant sectoral line Departments and Agencies North and South. | Specific project amounts are not contained within the Stability Programme Update and the Summer Economic Statement. | The Department of the Taoiseach is responsible for Shared Island Funding. |
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