Vol. 428 No. 3
75 Mr. Bradford asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry if he has received correspondence from a group (details supplied) in County Cork concerning the need to have the regulations governing the small and community enterprise scheme amended to allow for the payment of grant aid when the purchased equipment is second hand; and if he will grant this request as it would allow a number of small projects to begin.
Following the initiation in June 1992 of the small and community enterprise scheme under the EC backed Operational Programme for Rural Development, OPRD, my Department received a number of requests for relaxation of the conditions governing this scheme, including that referred to by Deputy Bradford.
A standard clause of the OPRD requires member states when administering EC programmes to strictly observe Community policies or risk the Commission withholding payment of funds to the operation in question. Both national and Community policy specifically prohibit grant-aid for second-hand machinery. This policy ensures that projects are provided with reliable equipment at a substantially reduced cost and also avoids any risk of multiple grant-aid in respect of an individual item of equipment.
