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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 14 Mar 1951

Vol. 124 No. 12

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Tourism Counterpart Funds.

asked the Minister for External Affairs if he is aware that an Irish News Agency report quoted an E.C.A. spokesman as stating that allocations from counterpart funds for tourism had been approved, totalling 20,000,000 dollars for all countries but none for Ireland, and also quoted Dr. Paul Miller, chief of the E.C.A. Mission to Ireland, as saying that the Irish Government had made no formal proposal for the release of counterpart funds for tourism as yet, and that hence the E.C.A. Mission had made no recommendation to the American Government in the matter; and, if so, whether he will make a statement in connection therewith.

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. As to the second part of the question, exploratory discussions have been under way with the E.C.A. Mission for a considerable time past on the question of utilising grant counterpart funds for the promotion of dollar tourism. These discussions derived from correspondence between the mission and the Government in the course of which a proposal in general terms was initiated in July, 1950, and followed up by supplementary data in October, 1950. The mission commented on this submission in November, 1950, asking for its further development to enable a formal proposal to be made to E.C.A., Washington. This was undertaken by the newly-constituted Tourist Board as part of its re-examination of the general field of tourist development. On the basis of this examination the Tourist Traffic (Amendment) Bill, 1951, the text of which has recently been circulated to Deputies, was drafted. The Deputy will note that Section 3 of this Bill provides for the payment to the Tourist Board out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas of non-repayable sums for the purpose of making grants to proprietors of premises registered under Part III of the Tourist Traffic Act, 1939, for the improvement, modernisation and extension of such premises. It is the intention of the Government, subject to the agreement of E.C.A., to finance these payments out of grant counterpart funds and the formal proposal to this effect is on the point of completion and will be submitted immediately to the E.C.A. for their agreement.

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