Taoiseach and Tánaiste announce over €50 million for 10 new Shared Island programmes

• €14 million for major new Shared Island Media initiative taken forward by Coimisiún na Meán
• €5.9 million to develop cross-border emergency management capacity on flood response and technical rescue operations
• €6 million for the new Shared Home Place programme to engage and deepen connections with all communities and the diaspora on the island’s diverse heritage and culture
• €14.5 million for an expanded Creative Ireland-Shared Island programme and for Arts projects
• €2 million to enable a new Dublin-Derry PSO air service to start in 2026
• €2 million for a new Shared Island Greenways Development Fund
• €6.4 million for cross-border pilot regional cooperation programme on tackling Bovine TB
• €2.3 million for commercialising research
• €1.8 million to the All-Ireland Pollinator Plan
• €1 million for the Cross-Border Partnership for Employment Services

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris today announced that the Government has made allocations of over €50 million from the Shared Island Fund for 10 new projects to be delivered as part of the initiative over 2026-2030.

Making today’s announcements, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said:

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Simon Harris, said:

ENDS

Notes for Editors:

Coimisiún na Meán Shared Island programme - €14 million (2026-29):

• Coimisiún na Meán will take forward the Programme for Government commitment to resource schemes to “encourage cross border reporting on an ongoing basis and not just at times of crisis” enabled with a total of €14 million from the Shared Island Fund over 2026-2029:
• Coimisiún na Meán will in 2026 commence a new Shared Island Journalism Without Borders initiative to support cross-border reporting on an ongoing basis and provide supports for capacity-building and sustainability of such reporting (€3 million).
• There will also be a new Shared Island Sound & Vision programme to support cross-border and all-island content, including programming and productions in response to the Shared Home Place initiative and the Shared Island Initiative more generally. This will also include a development element to support new talent and content (€10.7 million).

Cross-Border Emergency Management and Capacity Building - €5.9 million (2026-30):

• As part of overall cross-border cooperation and co-ordination on Emergency Planning and Preparedness, the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management (NDFEM) and the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) will strengthen their co-operation with co-ordinated investment supported through the Shared Island Fund and by other sources to expand training facilities, invest in interoperable urban search and rescue training equipment, and procure a flood containment module.
• This will support enhanced emergency response capacity in both jurisdictions, including through collaborative responses and facilitate joint training by fire and emergency services at locations North and South, including the Dublin Fire Brigade Training Centre and the NIFRS Learning and Development Centre in Tyrone, which opened in May 2025.
• The Shared Island investment co-operation will complement funding secured by NIFRS and NDFEM under the PEACEPLUS Programme of over €2 million, as announced by the Special EU Programme Body on 10 November, to develop a cross-border fire and rescue interoperability framework to train personnel, accredit trainers, and strengthen mutual aid agreements to improve emergency response across the island.

Shared Home Place programme - €6m (2026-30):

• In April, the Taoiseach announced a new dimension to the Initiative - the Shared Home Place programme – to commence in 2026 and be open to people from every corner of the island and the diaspora abroad to build new connections through our place-based heritage.
• Shared Home Place will engage communities in exploring what a shared home place means today and into the future through the lens of heritage and culture. The programme will facilitate engagement with all the different traditions on the island, including Irish, British, Anglo-Irish and Ulster-Scots, and also recognise the greater ethnic and cultural diversity of the island today.
• Five dimensions to the programme have now been approved by Government:

-Heritage: The Heritage Council will take forward a €5 million programme to promote public engagement and participation on Shared Home Place themes, including through programming by local libraries, museums, archives and galleries and developing an island-wide Local Government Heritage Network to facilitate collaboration and exchange.

-Diaspora: The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and his Department will develop a Diaspora dimension to the programme as part of the Government’s new Diaspora Strategy, inviting the diaspora to be an active part of the dialogue on what a Shared Home Place means, past, present and future.

-National Cultural Institutions: NCIs will be able to bring forward proposals that will engage with the objectives and themes of the Shared Home Place programme, working with Northern Ireland partners as part of the Shared Island Cultural Cooperation Scheme.

-Intangible Cultural Heritage: Ireland’s National Inventory of Intangible Cultural Heritage is managed by the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport which will, over 2027-2030, support the exploration and deepening of North/South and East/West connections on these dimensions of our heritage, following on from UK ratification of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2024 and the pending creation of Inventories across Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England.

-Home Place talks: A series of talks and discussions on Shared Home Place will be convened to set context for the programme and support engagement with its themes.

• Information on each of these programme dimensions will be announced in the coming months. Further dimensions to the Shared Home Place programme will be developed to foster a sustained, inclusive societal discussion on the diverse heritage and culture of the island and how it can shape a shared future for all communities.

Creative Ireland-Shared Island programme and Arts projects – up to €14.5 million (2026-28):

• Building on the success of the Shared Island dimension of the Government’s Creative Ireland Programme over 2023-2025, the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport will support a further phase of the programme delivered by his Department on an island-wide partnership basis over 2026-2028.
• Phase 2 of the Creative Ireland-Shared Island programme will include pillars on Cruinniú na nÓg; Creative Communities; Creative Youth; Creative Climate Action; Creative Health and Wellbeing.
• Phase 2 will include a focus on encouraging local authority and community-led projects to explore Shared Home Place themes and support the further development of an island-wide dimension to the Creative Industries sector as a catalyst for economic development.
• Building on the arts capital investment dimension of the Shared Island Initiative, the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport will also complete assessment of a proposed capital funding contribution towards the construction of Newry Theatre, as part of the city’s wider regeneration programme, which is also funded by the Northern Ireland Executive (Department for Communities) and Newry, Mourne and Down District Council.

Dublin-Derry air link:

• The Minister for Transport will introduce a new PSO air service between Dublin and Derry in 2026, delivering on the Programme for Government commitment to establish air connectivity between the two cities.
• The Dublin-Derry PSO air service will enhance connectivity for the North West of the island pending progress on an upgrade to the A5 road transport corridor by the Executive to which the Government has made a €600 million funding commitment.
• A Public Service Obligation (PSO) air service will be introduced for a defined period resourced through the Shared Island Fund, to commence in 2026 and be reviewed after two years. Full costs for the service will be determined and published once the procurement process for it has concluded.
• The service will improve transport connectivity for the northwest on the island and internationally and support opportunities for economic growth and in-bound tourism.

Shared Island Greenways Development Fund - €2 million (2026-2027):

• The Minister for Transport will take forward a new Shared Island Greenways Development Fund, providing development stage contributions to progress agreed cross-border and border region greenway projects, in cooperation with his Northern Ireland counterpart.
• The Shared Island Greenways Development Fund will support implementation of the National Development Plan objective to ‘continue development of an island-wide greenway network to link the Atlantic coast with the Eastern seaboard across the border region’ following on from the Carlingford Greenway and North West Greenway cross-border routes that have recently been completed.

All-Ireland Pollinator Plan Phase 3 - €1.8 million (2026-30):

• The All-Ireland Pollinator Plan (AIPP) brings together people, communities and sectors across the island to create a landscape where pollinators can survive and thrive, coordinated by the National Biodiversity Data Centre. The Plan has had two successful phases (2015-2020; 2021-2025) with over 300 official partners across the island.
• There will be a Shared Island Fund contribution of €1.8 million to Phase 3 of the AIPP over 2026-30, in addition to funding through the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine and Northern Ireland partners.
• This will enable delivery of a 10-module island-wide programme over five years on: Protecting Farmland Pollinators; Creating Buzzing Communities; Local Authority and Public Body engagement; Transport Authority and Public Utilities engagement; Business and Industry engagement; Rare and Threatened Pollinator species; Monitoring; Research; Mapping; and Communications. Full details on the AIPP Phase 3 will be announced by the AIPP partners.

Tackling Bovine TB - €6.4 million (2025-2030):

• The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine and his Northern Ireland counterpart will oversee a new collaborative project by their Departments and as part of the Shared Island Initiative to tackle the impact of bovine tuberculosis on farms in a pilot cross-border regional area, supported through an allocation from the Shared Island Fund and resourcing by Agriculture Departments, North and South.
• The project will contribute to the policies of both Departments on working with farmers to tackle bovine TB and see implementation of measures on a coordinated regional basis over 2025-2030. Further information will be published by the Agriculture Departments.

Research and Development Partnership - up to €2.3 million (2026-32):

• The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science will take forward a funding commitment by his Department (€6 million) and through the Shared Island Fund (€2.3 million) as part of a planned development of the US-Ireland Research and Development Partnership programme delivered with the United States National Science Foundation and Department for Economy (Northern Ireland) to support the commercialisation of research under the programme. Further details will be announced with US and NI partners.

Cross-Border Partnership for Employment Services enhancement - up to €1 million (2026-30):

• The Department of Social Protection will, in cooperation with its Northern Ireland Executive (Department for Communities), take forward a project to enhance the information service provided by their Cross-Border Partnership for Employment Services (CBPES) to support awareness and understanding by workers and employers of requirements in accessing the benefits of the all-island labour market.
• The CBPES site will be upgraded in 2026 and be promoted widely to enhance the range, accessibility and awareness level of the information service provided on cross-border working, including on personal taxation, social security and other requirements.

National Development Plan Sectoral Investment Plan: Shared Island Priorities:

• A Sectoral Investment Plan on Shared Island priorities as part of the National Development Plan (NDP) Review was published today. This sets out how the Government’s Shared Island Fund will be deployed, alongside other resourcing and working through all-island co-funding partnerships, to deliver objectives for Building a Shared Island.
• Shared Island investment priorities also contribute to the Government’s overall public investment agenda under the NDP, including on Transport Connectivity, Climate Action, Renewable Energy, and Research and Innovation.
• The Government’s Shared Island investment objectives are taken forward by Ministers and their Departments on a whole-of-Government basis, and consistent with the NDP Sectoral Plans. The NDP Sectoral Investment Plan on Shared Island priorities is available at www.gov.ie/sharedisland/buildingoursharedisland.

Shared Island Initiative:

• The Government, through the Shared Island Initiative, is putting a sustained focus on building a shared, reconciled future for all communities on the island.
• In an expanded phase for the Shared Island Initiative, the Government has doubled the resourcing to the Shared Island Fund, now a €2 billion commitment out to 2035, to drive all-island investment to foster reconciliation, mutual respect and growth.
• Shared Island investment priorities are taken forward with funding from a range of Government sources, including the Shared Island Fund, and working in all-island partnership with the Northern Ireland Executive to co-fund and co-deliver investment that creates a more connected, sustainable and prosperous island for all communities.
• Further information on the Shared Island Initiative is available at: www.gov.ie/sharedisland.