Vol. 452 No. 6
4 Mr. Andrews asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade if he will ensure that Border counties will receive a level of EU funding from the European Regional Development Fund and the European Social Fund over and beyond INTERREG and the Peace Initiative, similar to that of their counterparts across the Border to ensure an even tourist product development in the region. [8429/95]
A total of £369 million in EU funds, comprising £287 million and £82 million from the European Regional Development Fund and ESF respectively, are available in the Operational Programme for Tourism, 1994 — 1999 to encourage the development of the Irish tourism industry. Every subregion has a comparable opportunity to avail of these investment funds in order to attract visitors and create wealth in their areas.
The success or otherwise of individual sub-regions in obtaining programme funds will therefore depend a great deal on the quality of tourism proposals emerging for consideration in each area. The Deputy will be aware that a number of independent decision-making structures have been established under the programme to select the best proposals for grant assistance, and I am not therefore in a position to guarantee any sub-region a particular level of EU funds. However, the peace process has significantly improved investment confidence in the tourism industry, particularly in the Border counties, and consequently, I have every reason to expect at this stage that the Border subregion will obtain a satisfactory share of the overall EU budget of £369 million for the programme as a whole.
I am conceding my first supplementary to my colleague who is a Border Deputy.
The question is in the name of Deputy Andrews.
Yes, but I understood that in the case of questions other than priority questions——
It is customary for the Chair to call the Deputy who has tabled the question and if that Deputy wishes to defer to another Deputy he may do so.
That is what I was doing.
I did not hear the Deputy say so.
I am now exercising my privilege by deferring to my colleague who comes from a Border county, and I will intervene as and when I please.
I thank Deputy Andrews for his consideration. Will the Minister tell the House the amount of funding that will be available to the Department and specifically to Bord Fáilte from the INTERREG Programme and the special European Union initiative to advance the peace process?
The Deputy is aware of the amount available under the operational programme. The INTERREG II Programme was recently launched following approval of the Commission some months ago and tourism will be a beneficiary of that programme. The programme's European Regional Development Fund allocation for tourism in the six southern Border counties for the period 1994-1999 will be £10 million and the equivalent Northern budget for tourism is about £3.5 million sterling. In respect of the special EU programme, the Essen package, additional EU funding will be provided to support the Northern Ireland peace process. Commission guidelines indicate that programme will cover the following broad themes: urban and rual regeneration, employment, cross-Border development, social inclusion, productive investment and industrial development.
Indications are that total EU funding available under the initiative will be in the region of 300 million ECU or about £240 million over three years. Of this amount, the South of Ireland is expected to get approximately 60 million ECU or £48 million over the period. It is not known yet how much, if any, of these funds will be used to support tourism development in Northern Ireland and the six southern Border counties. Funding over a further two year period will be subject to a review of the position by the Commission, and it is likely to be the autumn before such a review is undertaken.
The Minister indicated that it is not known whether funding will be provided under the special European Union initiative for tourism. I thought that one of the sub-programmes of the special Delors package relates to tourism.
Is the Deputy referring to the Essen package?
Yes.
I already answered that question.
The Minister stated that he did not know whether money would be provided.
Tourism-related activities are obviously included under the broad themes, but it is too early to say how much will be provided for that purpose. The IFI fund is also available for cross-Border activities.
Is the Department or the relevant agencies under its aegis preparing applications for assistance from the special European Union initiative?
It is not the function of my Department to prepare applications for assistance under any package. Applications are lodged in the first instance through local regional tourism offices. When my predecessor visited Monaghan last October he received a good deal of flak from assembled public representatives about the overall amount invested in tourism in the Border areas, but the figures show that area received about three times as much in tourism capital grants as the average of all other sub-regions in the period 1988-93. Investment in the Border counties compares well with Northern Ireland over the same period. I can supply those figures to the Deputy if he wishes.
