Carol Nolan presses minister on Just Transition plan and funding

Minister, my question is as follows, to ask you to report on the consultation process by your department for the draft territorial plan which is necessary to access funding under the European Union Just Transition process, the number of submissions that your department has received during the public consultation process, when you envisage that the final version of the territorial plan will be completed and submitted to the European Commission. and if you will make a statement on this matter. Thank you very much indeed. The EU Just Transition Fund is a newly established fund for the 2021-2027 period, operating within the framework of the EU cohesion policy. The fund is to address the adverse socio-economic effects of the climate transition by supporting the most affected territories and workers and ensuring a fair transition. Ireland must prepare the territorial just transition plan and accompanying programme for approval by the European Commission, in order to secure access to our allocation of $84.5 million under the fund. I have appointed the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly, EMRA, as managing authority for the fund, and my department and the EMRA are jointly developing the territorial just transition plan and programme. I launched a public consultation on a draft of the territorial just transition plan on the 20th of December, which was open until the 14th of February. The draft plan provisionally identifies East Galway, North Tipperary, Longford, Leash, Offaly, Westmead, West Kildare and Roscommon as the functional territory to be targeted for investment under the plan. Feedback under the draft plan was gathered through an online survey and online workshops. My department and the EMRA have also had dedicated briefing sessions, respectively, for members of the Oireachtas and for members and staff of relevant local authorities for the identified counties. It's planned to publish a report summarising all responses received. Responses to public consultation will be used to further develop and finalise the draft territorial just transition plan before it's sent to government for agreement, and subsequently submitted, together with the EU Just Transition Fund programme, to the European Commission for approval during the course of 2022. It's true. Gourmet Mottagut. Gourmet Mottagut. Gourmet Mottagut. Unfortunately, Minister, that poses more questions than answers. How many submissions has your department received to date? I mean, I don't think you gather how serious this really is, and I just want to state firstly that I remain opposed to the transition, which isn't fair. I mean, you mentioned fair there, but I can tell you it's far from fair. Having said that, you and your government are still steamrolling ahead and imposing this on people who are suffering from all sorts of issues such as the cost of living, you're still imposing it. So my main concern is that we get a fair level of funding into the counties that are bearing the brunt of this. You've mentioned also the publication of a report. Can we have a date for that? Like, we need a plan here, we need dates, we need timeframes, and unfortunately you haven't provided any of that. Nowhere is it more applicable than County Offaly, which is expected will bear the brunt of the majority of job losses, 53 per cent, associated with the just transition process. That is clear for all to see. It was also made clear to me by the Coherlock and the Chief Executive of Offaly County Council, and the Corporate Policy Group of the Council, that the following issues required urgent consideration. That only 30 per cent of the Strand 2 projects in total had received their final offer from the department, and that is 47 projects in total. There were still many Strand 2 projects which were not finalised, 70 per cent, and therefore at contract stage. Just to give you some of those numbers, Deputy Nolan, in response to your question about the responses to the survey, at the public consultation there were 82 responses to the online survey and 41 submissions from individuals and groups were received. We are only just assessing those at the moment, so I don't have a specific timeline yet on the delivery of the port, but as soon as I do I will share it with you. With regards to the existing projects, those 55 just transition projects have entered into contract and are delivering. There's a total value of projects in delivery mode is 30 million, with 20.5 million in grant funding. We estimate there's 154 direct jobs in those grantee organisations, and there will be 932 indirect jobs. There are three remaining projects yet to be funded, to finalise rather their grant agreements, and my department is working closely with those remaining projects to try and finalise them as soon as possible. But I think that that work shows that we will actually deliver, and we will deliver new jobs in the Midlands and new opportunities that I believe will be able to deliver on the just transition. Minister, I just hope you escalate the process of delivering the funding as much as you escalated the process for the transition, which was totally unfair as I say again. But I do want to remind you that only 30% of the Strand 2 projects have received their final offer from the department. There are still many Strand 2 projects, too many, still not finalised, 70%, and therefore not at contract stage. I was informed by the local authority that a number of projects have encountered difficulties in accessing matching funding. From the Council's perspective, this situation arises in Offaly is serious, and again raises questions of the viability of these particular projects. I would just repeat my concerns that Offaly County Council is not in a position to provide direct funding to Just Transition Project, in terms of matching funding that the Council are seeking, and that all interventions that should expedite the finalisation of these outstanding projects with the department should be done. This should be done by your department so that solutions for communities can be found. It is no good standing up here telling us that you have delivered a handful of jobs. No good Minister when we are losing hundreds and hundreds of jobs. That won't wash, that won't cut it. I had the pleasure of visiting County Offaly late last year and meeting the Council officials and the people involved in organising these project funds or these transition fund projects, and a wide number of those who are actually involved with them. And I say, rather than it being a story of lack of success, what I heard from both the Council and the people involved is that this is working. Yes, it took time. You have to get, if I was in here saying the public money wasn't every I dotted and T crossed, I'd be equally lacerated. But actually having done that, what we're seeing now is those projects starting to deliver. They won't all survive or succeed, but I think many of them will. And I think that, along with what we're seeing, is a transformation and revival of a new Bordenham owner, where there are massive increased investment, significant new jobs being created, is the model to follow. And our department now working very closely with the particularly Offaly County Council, to see them having a key role in managing, monitoring and delivering these projects is the right way to go, as long with the Eastern Midlands region on the European Just Transition Plan. I think it's working. That's very important. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...