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Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 17 Jun 1976

Vol. 291 No. 9

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - County Wexford Road.

2.

asked the Minister for Local Government if his attention has been drawn to news items in the daily and local papers to the effect that the EEC has allocated £250,000 to Wexford County Council for the improvement of the Rosslare Harbour to New Ross road; the amount, if any, of this money being made available to Wexford Country Council; and if he will make a full statement on the matter.

As indicated in the statement which was issued by the Government Information Services on 29th April, 1976, on behalf of the Minister for Finance, the improvement of the national route linking Waterford/New Ross/Rosslare was one of the projects approved for assistance from the European Regional Development Fund. In line with the fund regulation, this project was grouped with others to form a global application to the fund and assistance has been committed globally for all the projects in the application. Thus the fund has not specified an individual aid figure for this project. Fund assistance in respect of all projects is paid to the Exchequer and is used to increase the total resources available for development purposes, thus contributing to the financing of new investment in the areas of greatest need. Any newspaper reports to which the Deputy refers are correct, therefore, only in so far as the project in question has been approved for regional fund assistance.

Is the Minister telling me that there is no question of £250,000 being made available to Wexford County Council or any other county council for the improvement of that road?

I am saying that that is partly correct. It is only fair to say that last year Wexford County Council got £218,000 for that road and this year they got £285,000 for it. Part of the fund can be used for that road but it does not start schemes. A lot of people, including newspapers, get the impression that this fund money is for the purpose of starting new schemes. It is only given where schemes are undertaken and can be used as portion of the cost of the scheme.

Does the Minister agree that the impression has been created from newspaper reports and other places that Wexford County Council were getting £250,000 to do a particular stretch of road? Will the Minister tell the House that this is not correct, that it is untrue and that we are getting, as far as his argument is concerned, the usual Road Fund grants to do roads in Wexford county?

That is not quite correct. It is specifically laid down by the fund that they cannot get a specific sum for this or any other job from the fund but it is true that Wexford County Council have got not an ordinary Road Fund grant but an extraordinary Road Fund grant of £285,000 for this road this year. They got £218,000 last year and Kilkenny County Council for the same road got £30,000 last year. The Deputy is partly correct. He is saying that the newspaper reports are incorrect in that they say the money was allocated for that road and if that is what he is saying he is correct.

The Minister is telling me now that the newspaper reports are misleading but would he not agree that as far as Wexford County Council are concerned we have been getting grants of a somewhat similar amount over the last four or five years? The difference is not very great. This thing of £250,000 from the EEC is a myth or else it is being swallowed up in the Road Fund as a whole.

The Deputy is not being fair to himself or to his council. They have been getting substantial sums of money. The Deputy, and Wexford County Council know that the allocation from the European Fund is not given to start new work; it is given for the purpose of assisting work in progress. If £285,000 has been given this year and somebody wants to say that some of that comes from the European Fund he is perfectly entitled to do so. In fact, the Minister for Finance on 29th April issued a statement about the whole thing. The extraordinary thing about it is that while everybody seemed to see the rather misleading items of news they did not seem to see this notification sent out by the Minister for Finance which was a far larger notice.

Will the Minister tell me that there is no place where £250,000 is mentioned for a particular job of work?

Deputy Browne reminds me of the farmer who left £100 in silver in a bank and ten years later would not take notes because he said he wanted back the silver he left in. It does not matter how the money is made up, Wexford County Council got £285,000 for that road this year. If somebody wants to say that part of it is made up of European Fund money he is entitled to do so but it has not been specifically allocated; it goes into the Central Fund and it is allocated all around.

Where did the Minister get a sum of £285,000 for that road? As far as I am aware only £84,000 is included in our estimate for that road. There may be part of it in Waterford or Kilkenny.

The authorities concerned are Wexford and Kilkenny County Councils and Road Fund grants for the improvement of the road were allocated as follows: Wexford County Council 1975, £218,000; 1976, £285,000.

That is for a number of national primary roads.

It is for the improvement of this road.

Is the Minister saying £285,000 for the improvement of the Rosslare/New Ross/Waterford road? If that is what the Minister is telling me there will be a lot of checking done in the coming week.

It is a pity the checking was not done last week because we would have saved the time of the House.

It's hard to follow the Minister.

There are none so blind as those who do not want to see.

It is a cod to be fooling the people.

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