Vol. 434 No. 5
74 Mr. Noonan (Limerick East) asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Forestry the reason moneys from the Structural Funds are not being paid to a company (details supplied) in County Limerick which provides a farm relief service; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Grant aid of £5,000 was in fact paid to the company concerned in 1992 under the Small and Community Enterprise Scheme of the EC-backed Operational Programme for Rural Development.
The operational programme also includes a measure which provides assistance for services in rural areas on the lines of that provided by the company in question. This measure is implemented on a national basis on behalf of my Department through National Co-operative Farm Relief Services Ltd., Roscrea, County Tipperary. Implementation of this measure has proved very successful having already met the target of creating 260 jobs in the area of rural service.
Operation of the measure through a national organisation, as indicated, is considered to be the most efficient use of the available EC and national funding in exploiting the potential for developing farm relief services.
