asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will give details of the EEC aid to be given in Mediterranean areas for the development of public facilities such as electricity, water supplies and farm roads; how these aids differ from aids already available through FEOGA; the exact regions which will be eligible; if the GNP per head of the country concerned exceeds the Irish GNP per head; and if he has sought to have similar aids made available to disadvantaged rural areas in Ireland.
Ceisteanna—Questions . Oral Answers . - EEC Public Facilities Aid .
19.
: This is one of a series of measures approved by the Council of Ministers at their meeting on 8 to 12 May for the improvement of agriculture in Mediterranean areas of the Community. It provides for special Community aid for the provision of electricity and water and the improvement of farm roads in the Mezzogiorno in Italy and in certain regions of southern France. This type of project was formerly aided under the FEOGA individual projects regulation 17/64 which is now being phased out.
The Community contribution to the cost of this measure has not yet been decided pending settlement of the rate of contribution for Regional Fund Projects.
According to the latest data available, GDP per head in Italy is 3040 US dollars compared to 2510 US dollars in Ireland. Comparable particulars on GNP per head are not available.
At my request the Commission have indicated that they intend to submit proposals at the earliest opportunity to improve the structural situation in the west of Ireland, and the Council noted this when adopting the special measures for the Mediterranean areas.
These further proposals would be in addition to the Community aid for drainage in the west of Ireland and border areas which I have already secured.
: Might I ask the Minister why he agreed to aid for Italy, which has, as he admitted, a substantially higher gross national product per head than we have, for things like electricity, water supply and farm roads which are as much in need in the west of Ireland as they are in Italy? Why is the Commission proceeding first to provide this facility in a country which has a higher gross national product per head than we have and leaving over to some time in the future doing something about the situation in Ireland?
: The premises of the Deputy are completely false. First of all, the whole price structure in the Mezzogiorno and in the west of Ireland are not comparable in the way that is mentioned in the reply to the question.
: What is not comparable?
: Secondly, the decision of the Council of Ministers to proceed with the special measures in the peripheral areas where the standards are not as high as in the rest of the Community suited us down to the ground: if the Italians could advance with the Mezzogiorno, if the French could advance their areas in Languedoc and Roussillon, we could advance in the west. Therefore, tactically it was eminently the right thing to do to support the Italians in this and by no stretch of the imagination should we have considered opposing the Italian measures.
: Accepting the Minister's case that there was good reason for supporting the Italians, why did we not go forward at the same time, or ahead of them, given that our gross national product is lower than theirs?
: We have made a very significant advance. The situation, like many others, has been sitting there for years. Now we are moving. Now we have firm undertakings, not only on drainage in the west but in cross-Border areas as well and in infrastructural development in the west. These are three separate things all coming together.
: Only because the Italians are getting it, we are getting a few crumbs afterwards.
: Well, we are making progress. I regret to say that we were not making that progress in the last few years. However, the situation is being restored rapidly.
: Perhaps the Minister could explain to the House how the Commission and the Council of Ministers justify the exclusion of Ireland from these special aids they were making available to Italy?
: There is no question of exclusion; there is a question of inclusion immediately. I do not know why there was no movement on the western Ireland problem until the last few months, but there is now. It comes very strangely from the Opposition Deputies to be complaining because we are going to get £21 million for western drainage and other money besides that for cross-Border drainage.
: What we are complaining about is that the Minister is not doing as good a job as the Italian Minister.
: The areas are hardly comparable. The Deputy must have some rough idea of the appearance of the map of Europe and the concentration of population. Unfortunately, from the Deputy's point of view, we are succeeding all along.
: Question No. 20.
: The Minister is not succeeding as well as his foreign colleagues and that is the comparison.