asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs when EEC regional funds will be available for distribution; and if he will indicate the areas and the schemes which will have priority.
Ceisteanna — Questions. Written Answers. - EEC Regional Fund.
1.
The heads of Government decided in Paris on 9th and 10th December that the European Regional Development Fund will be put into operation with effect from 1st January, 1975.
Although the member states are facing severe economic difficulties, they decided to establish a regional fund with an initial allocation for its first three years of £542 million, of which Ireland will receive £35 million. It is a remarkable example of the strength of the Community that the fund should be launched at a time of such grave economic crisis.
We made a vital contribution to the decision by stressing its importance during the preparatory consultations before the summit. We made it clear, with Italy, that we regarded the setting up of a fund of a size approximating to that proposed recently by the Commission as a vital test of the commitment by the Community to mutual solidarity. If the summit failed to take a decision on the regional fund—a decision that was outstanding for such a long time— then it would have been seen as a failure by the Community as a whole —not just by Italy and ourselves. This verdict would have applied regardless of whether the summit took decisions on other important matters. Our insistence that the summit establish a regional fund and our refusal to agree to the holding of a summit unless it was clear that agreement on the fund was assured, was very important to the successful outcome of the meeting.
Turning to the actual agreement, the most important point is that our share of the fund is two-thirds greater than what the Commission originally proposed. Because of representations made in Brussels last year, the Commission revised their proposals and increased our proposed share by more than half. At the summit we were able to persuade our partners to make a special adjustment in our share over and above what we had obtained already. The outcome was a considerable victory for Ireland. This can be seen from the fact that although the size of the fund was reduced by half from that originally proposed as a result of the change in the economic situation in the last 18 months, our share has been virtually maintained fully. The other eight member states have all had their shares cut. The cut ranges from about 40 per cent in the case of the United Kingdom, and Italy up to about 65 per cent in the case of some of the others.
As far as implementation of the fund is concerned, projects have been prepared for different areas throughout the country for submission to the Commission as eligible for assistance from the fund once the criteria for evaluating such projects have been agreed. These criteria will be decided by the Council which will now resume examination of the various proposals which will be necessary to implement the summit decision of the heads of Government.