asked the Minister for Finance the amount of money available to local authorities for road building purposes from the EC Regional Fund for 1984; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Local Authority Road Development.
12.
The estimated receipts from the European Regional Development Fund in 1984 enabled the overall level of resources available to local authorities for road development in 1984 to be increased by £27 million.
Would the Minister agree that it would be in the interests of these local authorities if they could make their own submissions to the EC from the Regional Fund? Would he also agree that the total amount being made available out of the fund is not getting to the sources interested? Is there a leakage, or a certain amount of the fund being retained in his Department?
The answer is no and no. There is no leakage. The total amount of funds made available through the European Regional Development Fund increases the total amounts available for investment under the public capital programme. There is no question of leakage and the total amount which we receive from that fund is a net addition to the total investment capital.
What is the total amount made available from the Regional Fund for road building purposes?
Going back to 1980 and giving each year after that up to 1984, the amounts are as follows: £7 million, £7 million, £10 million, £16 million and £27 million.
So a total amount was received for 1984 of £7 million, is that right?
£27 million.
Is the Minister satisfied that our percentage of the Regional Fund is adequate, when the UK receives something in the region of 24 per cent?
I am always anxious to find an opportunity of increasing the total amount available to this country from the European Regional Development Fund. Between ourselves — and I am quite sure that Deputy O'Kennedy would agree with me on this — I would always contend that we do reasonably well out of the European Regional Development Fund, not only for road development projects but in the total. For example, in 1984 we received a total of £74 million.
Is the Minister saying——
This is a final supplementary.
——that 6 per cent is adequate for this country when a country such as the UK, which is fully developed and has vast resources, can qualify for a total of 24 per cent?
I would go a bit of the road with the Deputy in that I would take the view, as have predecessors of mine on both sides of this House, that ideally the European Regional Fund should be more concentrated on the less developed regions of the Community. However, the fact of the matter is that neither I nor my predecessors in this office have been able to make as much progress as, left to ourselves, we would like to have been able to make there. On the other hand, in the circumstances the performance has been pretty creditable.