Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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231. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht when the next call for applications to the shared island fund for tourism projects will be released; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27981/25]

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Under the Shared Island Fund, the Department has taken forward two tourism initiatives. The first was an allocation of €7.6 million, granted for an all-island tourism brand collaboration initiative in the North West.

A Project Team was established in 2023 consisting of representatives from the Department and the three tourism agencies, Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Ireland and Tourism Northern Ireland.

The vision of the proposal is to connect the Causeway Coastal Route and the Wild Atlantic Way in such a way that the visitor is motivated to stay longer and spend more thereby bringing greater economic benefit to the region.

One of the key work programmes for the project is a €3 million small grants scheme, which is aimed at greatly enhancing the visitor offering in over 16 visitor experiences along the routes and details of the successful grant recipients will be announced in the coming months. Applications for the small grants scheme are closed.

In February this year, a second initiative was announced of up to €23 million for a Shared Destinations project. This project will also see Fáilte Ireland, Tourism Northern Ireland and Tourism Ireland work in partnership with local authorities to develop sustainable tourism amenities across the border region, specifically at Carlingford Lough, Cuilcagh Lakelands UNESCO Global Geopark and Sliabh Beagh.

Any further development of Shared Island funding supports for tourism is at the discretion of the Department of the Taoiseach. The Shared Island Unit in the Department of the Taoiseach acts as a driver and coordinator of this whole of government initiative.