Máirín Quill
Question:5 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Finance if he has requested the European Commission to delay the publication of the Community Support Framework for Ireland.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Community Support Framework.
Mary Harney
Question:10 Miss Harney asked the Minister for Finance the reason the Community Support Framework was not published in accordance with the European Regulations on 8 April 1994; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ivan Yates
Question:34 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Finance the date on which the Community Support Framework for the expenditure of EU funds from 1994 to 1999 will be published.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 5, 10 and 34 together.
The National Development Plan was submitted to the EU Commission in October 1993. Discussions with the Commission services have been proceeding since then. At first these discussions were concerned primarily with questions of clarification as the Commission prepared its response to the plan. Discussions on the Community Support Framework began formally in February 1994. Agreement was reached on the major substantive issues in April. Since then officials in the Commission and in the Irish Government Departments concerned have been working on the preparation of the text and sorting out issues of detail. The final items relating to matters such as the completion of the list of development indicators to be included, verification of some statistics and fine-tuning of the text are being wrapped up at present.
The draft Community Support Framework is likely to be submitted shortly by the Commission services to the Commission for approval. Following Commission approval, the draft Community Support Framework will then be sent to four community-level committees which deal with Structural Fund matters for their opinions. This procedure is likely to take about three weeks. The Commission then formally approves and publishes the Community Support Framework.
I cannot therefore at this stage give a precise date on which the Community Support Framework will be published. I hope it will be by early July at any rate.
The regulations governing the Structural Funds state that "unless otherwise agreed with the member state concerned, the Commission shall take a decision approving the Community Support Framework not later than six months after receiving the relevant plan or plans". In the event, the process has proved to be more time-consuming than had been expected on either the Irish or the Commission side. This is not just the case for Ireland. The only Community Support Framework adopted so far was that for Portugal which was adopted at the end of February. In that case also over six months had elapsed since the submission of the development plan. It seems likely that that will be the case for most, and possibly all, of the other Community Support Frameworks for Objective 1 regions.
Nobody on the Irish side has requested the Commission to delay the publication of the Community Support Framework. I would be happier if it had proved possible to have published it before now. It is, however, important that the officials take the necessary time to ensure that the detailed work is finalised properly.
The fact that it is taking a bit longer than expected to finalise the Community Support Framework is not a matter of great concern in so far as implementation is concerned. Our operational programmes were submitted before the end of April and, accordingly under the Structural Fund regulations, expenditure from 1 January 1994 is eligible for EU assistance. Furthermore, a significant part of the expenditure is Exchequer-financed and so expenditure in areas such as roads, sanitary services, industry, agriculture, training and education has been provided for in the normal estimates process and has been going ahead from the beginning of the year, even if final agreement with the Commission has not been reached.
We debated this matter in Private Members' time although we did not reach a satisfactory conclusion. Will the Minister explain to the uninitiated like myself who does not understand the ways of the Eurocrats how it can take three months to complete the fine tuning of the text, proof reading and the verification of some statistics? Will it now stop dodging, ducking and diving on this issue and indicate if Tallaght hospital will have a sun roof and where the 8.5 per cent will be shaved off?
The Deputy can check with Deputy Rabbitte if Tallaght hospital will have a sun roof given that he has spent some considerable time in Tallaght this week. He will be pleased when he sees the Community Support Framework as the figures will be in line with those agreed last October. We would have liked to have received more based on the plan submitted. As I said last night and on five other occasions since last summer, this will mean that there will be a slow-down but, by and large, the figures are satisfactory. The Community Support Framework is full of technical data but the figures will be in line with those agreed last October. The operational programmes are under discussion also. I spoke to the Commissioner, Bruce Millan, this morning to discuss some outstanding matters. Farmers and other private sector groups will be anxious to use the funds which have not yet been allocated as quickly as possible once the Community Support Framework has been published. The Commissioner stated that he expects this to be published in early July. We should then be able to proceed with the operational programmes within a matter of weeks. I am more concerned about these at this stage than about the Community Support Framework which is a technical document.
The Minister has said that neither he nor the Government has made any representations to Brussels to delay the completion of the Community Support Framework. Has the Government been pressing the Commission to finalise it and is there any evidence to support this?
The Community Support Framework will not include a list of specific projects; rather it will contain statistical data. One could argue that the rate of progress on the operational programmes is either slow or quick. I can do nothing for the deputations who have come to meet me until the Community Support Framework is published. I will not receive £8 billion and I have already outlined what the cut will be. The figure however will be in line with that agreed last October, that is, £7.2 billion. This will not change regardless of what may happen when a review is carried out. I am anxious to see the Community Support Framework being finalised because it will take a further four to six weeks to put the operational programmes into operation.
Has the Minister had discussions with Mr. Bruce Millan in this regard? Will the rail link project proceed and, if so, when?
The Tallaght rail link, which is close to the Deputy's heart, will proceed as will most of the major infrastructural projects planned for Dublin. They may not proceed as quickly as he or I would wish, but they will proceed.