Brian Stanley (Laois, Independent)
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124. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of funding the State received from the European Just Transition Fund; the sectors that have received funding from the fund to date; the amount that has been received under each funding stream; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45462/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland’s EU JTF Programme represents a total commitment of €169m to the Just Transition process in the Midlands designated territory (as approved by the Commission), incorporating €84.5 million of funding from the EU Just Transition Fund for 2021 – 2027 with €84.5 million of matched national co-financing from Exchequer resources.

The EU JTF Programme in Ireland focuses on three priority areas to address needs identified in the designated Territory, each with a series of distinct actions:

Priority Area 1: Generating employment for former peat communities by investing in the diversification of the local economy:

• Fáilte Ireland’s Regenerative Tourism and Placemaking scheme aims to support economic diversification of the local economy through the development of the regenerative Tourism sector.

• The Local and Regional Economic Strategy Support Scheme, administered by Pobal, aims to help the implementation of bottom-up local and regional economic strategies to promote the generation of employment in the EU Just Transition territory by investing in the modernisation and diversification of the local economy.

• The Bioeconomy Demonstration Initiative, administered by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is providing funding for the development of bioeconomy piloting and demonstration projects in the wider midlands area.

• Tóchar is a three-year project administered by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, focused on wetland restoration, research, and community engagement across Ireland’s midlands.

• Fáílte Ireland’s ‘Trail Network Development Scheme’ is aimed at enhancing trails on former industrial peatlands in the EU Just Transition Territory to promote sustainable tourism in the region.

• The National Transport Authority (NTA), in collaboration with the Department of Transport are progressing the electrification a local bus route in the Territory to improve regional connectivity through sustainable transport.

• The NTA and the Department of Transport are administering a scheme to ensure that private transport operators in the region have access to the resources they need to make the transition to electric fleets.