Vol. 442 No. 2
104 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the progress that has been made on the establishment of a Dublin fashion centre; if a submission from IBEC on behalf of the Irish Clothing Manufacturers Federation has been received; the type of funding from the EU Prisma Programme that could be available; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
As the Deputy is aware, the now disbanded Apparel Industries Federation had received funding under the EC Prisma Programme to carry out a feasibility study relating to the setting up of a Dublin fashion centre and had applied for further Prisma funding to proceed to the design/commercial viability stage of the project.
The new IBEC representative body for the clothing sector, the Irish Clothing Manufacturers Federation, advised me that it wished to consider the matter further in order to establish the precise level of support for the project among Irish clothing manufacturers and particularly those in the fashion sector. Having carried out its analysis, the ICMF informed me that it would not be seeking to pursue the project any further.
