The Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment, Deputy Bruton, would know Bord na Móna made a decision to cease its peat processing operations in Littleton, with the consequent loss of 120 jobs, which has had a devastating impact on the local economy and community. Subsequent to that, Bord na Móna announced the closure of a number of facilities in the midlands. Arising from that, the Government made a just transition fund available to assist in providing alternative options and creating alternative jobs for people who have lost their jobs. Could the Minister confirm that Littleton in County Tipperary is not excluded from that programme? Could he confirm what the criteria are and if the criteria for access to the programme have been finalised? Are the Government and the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment in communication and in negotiation with the European Commission on the possible application of the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund for all the plants that have closed in the midlands and in Littleton?

The Tánaiste answered part of the question on Littleton. A waste facility has been developed there and it is hoped that waste facility can continue to expand. On the broader issue of the use of the just transition fund, as the Deputy knows, this was established for the first time as a result of the introduction of carbon pricing and we recognise that a number of counties will be calling on the resources of this fund. We will seek to be broad in our approach but in the immediate term the concentration has been on the losses that have recently occurred as a result of the foreclosing of the expected electricity generation from peat in the midlands. We have not ruled out the provision of funding in the other regions and the Moneypoint issue was raised with me, for example. The terms and conditions have not yet been worked out and Kieran Mulvey, who has been appointed as the just transition commissioner, will be making recommendations on how we should do that. The likelihood is that support would come from the platform for coal regions in transition because the European Globalisation Adjustment Fund is specifically confined to situations where international trade has disrupted employment. In the carbon impact sector here, it is the platform for coal regions in transition that would come into play and that has been extended to include peat.