Austin Deasy
Question:29 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for the Marine the reason for the difference in grant aid for portal development between Northern Ireland and here.
Written Answers. - Port Development.
I assume that the Deputy is referring to the aid being made available to certain harbour authorities under the operational programme on peripherality 1989-1993.
The Deputy will appreciate that the EC aid available to port authorities under the programme is fixed. Having examined our particular circumstances the Government decided that the goals of the programme, of offsetting the impact of Ireland's peripheral location and assisting sub-regional development, could best be achieved by spreading the allocation over all of our key ports.
The programme provides that harbour authorities can receive grant aid of up to 50 per cent of their approved project costs. If the programme were to provide for a level of aid comparable to that which obtains under the Northern Ireland programme, the result would be less effective in our particular circumstances, because all our important ports would not benefit to the extent which the current level of aid allows.