Vol. 416 No. 6
177 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Finance whether arrangements are being made to ensure that money received under the INTERREG Programme is genuinely additional to moneys that would otherwise be spent for national and local authorities in Ireland, and if he will outline the way in which schemes and activities are separated for purposes of transparency in respect of additionality.
All Structural Fund assistance, including aid received under Community initiative programmes such as INTERREG, is subject to the additionality requirement set out in the Structural Fund Regulations. The additionality requirement is that the increase in Structural Funds arising from the reform of the funds in 1989 must result in at least a corresponding increase in total public or similar expenditure. This requirement applies to overall expenditure of a structural nature in Ireland, rather than to individual schemes or activities.
The joint Ireland/Northern Ireland INTERREG Programme provides for total EC aid of £58 million for the eligible areas North and South. This aid will make possible a substantial increase in expenditure on eligible measures under the programme up to the end of 1993.
