Shared Island Initiative Update July 2022

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Shared Island Initiative Newsletter
This newsletter provides subscribers with updates on the Government's Shared Island initiative that was launched by Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD in October 2020 to enhance cross-border cooperation, connection and mutual understanding, engaging with all communities and traditions on the island to build consensus around a shared future, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement.

In this edition you will find details on the allocation of €70.4 million to new Shared Island projects; and the latest reports from the Shared Island Dialogue series; updates from the ESRI, IRC and NESC research programmes.

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If you missed our last Newsletter, it can be read here.

Shared Island Fund

Government approves over €70 million for Shared Island investments

The Government on the 4 July, allocated €70.4 million from the Shared Island Fund to deliver 5 new cross-border and all-island initiatives. These are:

€5 million for a Shared Island Local Authority Development Funding Scheme
€3 million for a Shared Island strand to the Community Climate Action Programme
€15 million for a Shared Island Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure scheme
€7.4 million for Shared Island Arts investment projects
€40 million contribution for delivery of Phase 3 of the Ulster Canal restoration

The Shared Island Fund was established by Government in Budget 2021, and provides ring-fenced capital resourcing for delivery of the all-island investment commitments and objectives set out in the Programme for Government and the revised National Development Plan 2021-30 (NDP).

The projects will be taken forward by Ministers working through all-island partnerships:

Shared Island Local Authority Development Funding Scheme

The Minister for Housing, Local Government Heritage announced a call for applications under the Shared Island Local Authority Development funding scheme in April 2022. The €5m scheme will make grants of up to €250,000 to be made to cross-border Local Authority partnerships to bring new joint investment cooperation projects through feasibility or pre-planning stages.

The scheme is designed to generate a pipeline of well-developed cross-border local authority projects that will be in a position to secure funding for subsequent construction/implementation stage from both jurisdictions, including through the Shared Island Fund. There has been a strong response from cross-border Local Authority partnerships to the call for proposals and funding awards are due to be announced in the autumn.

Shared Island strand to the Community Climate Action programme

The Minister for Environment, Climate and Communications will announce a Shared Island dimension to the government’s Community Climate Action Programme (CCAP).

The Shared Island dimension will operate alongside Strand 1 of the CCAP, to support Local Authorities to step up climate action, in partnership with communities.

The €3 million from the Shared Island Fund will support cross-border or all-island projects which have a clear North/South basis and impact in contributing to climate and energy targets on the island of Ireland. Projects will include at least one partner in Northern Ireland and at least 50% of awarded funding will be for project delivery in Northern Ireland.

Shared Island Electric Vehicle charging infrastructure scheme

This project will deliver publicly accessible EV charge points in sports clubs and centres on an all-island basis by providing grant funding via National Sports Governing Bodies.

The scheme will enable the installation of interoperable EV charging infrastructure on both sides of the border, with up to 90 rapid EV charging points delivered in sports locations across the island, funded through the €15m Shared Island Fund allocation.

The scheme will contribute to the implementation of the government’s EV Charging Infrastructure Strategy for installation of EV charging points at destination and residential locations. It will also support the requirement under the strategy to promote the parallel development of aligned standards and the use of interoperable technologies and digital systems on the island.

Shared Island Arts investment projects

A number of new Shared Island arts capital projects will be progressed by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

Up to €7.4 million from the Shared Island Fund will support the delivery of a suite of new Arts capital investment projects on the island. These are being developed in consultation with the Arts Council and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

The two Councils frequently work together to co-fund Arts programming and have identified a number of projects including residential and studio spaces for cross-border writer artistic and traditional music collaborations; and digitisation and curation of film, music and architectural archives on an island-wide basis.

These projects will be finalised and announced in the coming months.

Phase 3 of the Ulster Canal

Phase 3 is central to delivery of the commitment under the Programme for Government and the New Decade New Approach agreement to complete the Ulster Canal restoration from Clones to Upper Lough Erne.

This is the major blueway stage of the restoration project, connecting a 10km cross-border route between Castle Saunderson and Clonfad and linking the town of Clones by navigable waterway to the Erne System and onward to the wider waterway network of the Shannon-Erne Waterway, Shannon Navigation and the Royal and Grand Canals. The feasibility and pre-development work of this phase was enabled by an allocation of €1 million from the Shared Island Fund in December 2020.

3 of the 4 sub-sections of this phase are now ready to be progressed:

Phase 3.1 (2kms) Castle Saunderson to Gortnacarrow
Phase 3.2 (0.5kms) Gortnacarrow to the Border
Phase 3.4 (3.75kms) New canal navigation between the border at Derrynure and the border at Clonfad

These works will bring the restored canal south of the border from Fermanagh and extend it further to the West from Clones. The sub-phases involve substantive infrastructure, including new road bridges and layouts, a marina and restored heritage architecture.

More detail on the funding structure and roll out of Phase 3 works will be made available in the autumn.

The final Phases 4 and 5 of the Ulster Canal restoration project are greenways which are also progressing, supported under the EU INTERREG programme.

Shared Island Dialogue

The Shared Island Dialogue series was launched in October 2020 to foster constructive and inclusive civic dialogue on all aspects of a shared future on the island.

The series is intended to provide a focus for people to engage on an inclusive basis on a shared future on the island, which can be a starting point for broader and deeper discussions in civil society.

Identities on a Shared Island - new generations views

Taoiseach Micheál Martin addresses the Shared Island Dialogue on Identity. Young people from across all communities, regions, identities and backgrounds, North and South, came together in St. Columb’s Hall in Derry on 28 June 2022 for the latest Shared Island Dialogue, Identities on a Shared Island – new generation views.

The eleventh Dialogue in the Shared Island Dialogue series took place on Tuesday 28 June, on the theme "Identities on a Shared Island – new generation views" held in St. Columb's Hall in Derry.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD delivered an online opening address and over 150 young people participated in the Dialogue.

Young civic representatives from a range of communities and backgrounds, North and South, came together to discuss how we can better acknowledge and accommodate diverse community, cultural and personal identities on the island in the years ahead.

There were lively panel discussions on “Cultural identities on a shared island - can we move from acceptance to celebration?” and on “Personal identities - better representing diverse identities on the island of Ireland” looking at how aspects of personal identity – including race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender, ability, socio-economic background - are accommodated in society, North and South.

A report on the Dialogue will be published in the coming weeks on www.gov.ie/sharedisland/dialogues.

Enabling Rural and Community Development on a Shared Island

Minister Heather Humphreys TD opened the Shared Island Dialogue - Enabling Rural & Community Development on a Shared Island

The tenth Dialogue in the Shared Island Dialogue series was held on 24 May on the theme "Enabling Rural and Community Development on a Shared Island” at a Connected Hub in Drumhowan, Co. Monaghan.

Over 200 people from rural and community groups, business organisations, social enterprise coordinators and Government agencies North and South came together in Drumhowan, Co. Monaghan to discuss linkages and cooperation in rural and community development on the island of Ireland.

Minister for Rural and Community Development Heather Humphreys TD delivered the opening address which is the first of the regional Dialogues in 2022.

There were two panel discussions as part of the Dialogue, a panel discussion on Social Enterprise for Thriving Communities heard from people working in communities and social enterprises along the border, in an all-island capacity and internationally, on the role of social enterprises in rural communities and how collaboration and co-operation can be enhanced on a regional and island-wide basis.

A second panel on the Transformational Potential of Rural Hubs, focused on the potential for rural hubs to support economic development and employability in rural areas North and South.

The Dialogue also featured a guest address from from Mary McKenna MBE, Serial Tech Entrepreneur, Angel Investor and Awaken Hub co-founder outlined opportunities for social enterprises to collaborate with state agencies to look to the future with the next generation of entrepreneurs with a focus of digitisation and creating a network of hubs as the future of working.

A report on the Dialogue will be published shortly at www.gov.ie/sharedisland/dialogues.

Mary McKenna MBE, Serial Tech Entrepreneur, Angel Investor and Awaken Hub co-founder addressed the Shared Island Dialogue

Research Update

The Shared Island unit is progressing a comprehensive research programme to provide high quality, evidence-based analysis across a range of areas to inform Government policy priorities and public discussion on building a shared island and consensus around a shared future.

Further information on the research programme is available here.

NESC

Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD addressed the NESC in the Aula Maxima, University College Cork

NESC held an in-person event in association with the Department of the Taoiseach, co-hosted by University College Cork, on 7 July 2022.

This event Shared Island: Shared Opportunity considered the main conclusions and recommendations from NESC’s report to Government which was published in April.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD delivered an online opening address and speakers from the Cork region and across the island engaged with the conclusions and recommendations in the NESC report based on their own experiences, with a focus on future opportunities.

Further details on this event, can be found here.

The Council’s Shared Island: Shared Opportunity report and launch event on 12 April is a culmination of work over the last year, where NESC published two Council Reports, six Secretariat Papers and one Background Paper on the Shared Island, see NESC's website at www.nesc.ie.

ESRI

On Thursday, April 28 2022, the ESRI launched the report 'A North-South comparison of education and training systems: lessons for policy'.

The report is the fourth output in the joint research programme between the ESRI and Shared Island unit in the Department of the Taoiseach.

An Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD launched the report. The launch can be viewed here.

The report - A North-South Comparison of Education and Training Systems: Lessons for Policy - is the first study to systematically compare systems and outcomes in the two jurisdictions from primary to third level.

The report found that the education systems in Ireland and Northern Ireland face similar challenges, including countering educational disadvantage, supporting students with special educational needs, and approaches to promoting skills development, which could be furthered through North South cooperation.

It explores a range of issues including educational attainment, educational inequalities, skill development and labour market outcomes in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The research draws on international and national survey data, administrative data, 31 interviews with 35 policy stakeholders and input from a consultation with stakeholders to examine commonalities and differences between the education systems in Ireland and Northern Ireland.

The full report is available online and can be accessed here.

Also, in May, the 2022 Shared Island research projects were set out in the publication by the ESRI of four scoping papers on: Children’s care and early education; Migrant Integration; Modelling Productivity Levels on the island; and, Calculating the benefit of all-island coordination of energy infrastructure and renewable energy supports. The scoping papers are available here and final reports on these four topics will be published and disseminated in late 2022.

Irish Research Council

On 10 May, The Irish Research Council, in partnership with the Department of the Taoiseach, opened a new call for research applications under the New Foundations programme.

€200,000 in funding is being provided by the Shared Island unit in the Department of the Taoiseach for up to 10 projects which contribute new knowledge or perspectives to the programme of research being undertaken as part of the Government’s Shared Island initiative. Project awards will be announced and commence in late 2022.

This strand of the New Foundations programme will fund research, networking and collaboration projects which can help to take forward commitments and objectives on a shared island.

Research work will be focused on the Shared Island priorities set by Government as part of the revised National Development Plan (2021-2030) and key issues from the Shared Island Dialogue series convened by the Government to foster inclusive civic dialogue on a shared future on the island, across two themes:

Theme 1: Political, policy and economic cooperation on the island Theme 2: Civic, social and cultural connections and understanding on the island.

This funding call is the second research partnership between the Shared Island unit in the Department of the Taoiseach and the Irish Research Council as part of the New Foundations programme.

11 projects are under way from the 2021 call in areas extending across culture, science, education, law, equality and community relations, which will publish findings in the second half of this year.

Our mailing address is:
SharedIsland@taoiseach.gov.ie

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