Vol. 460 No. 4
89 Mr. Leonard asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the discussions, if any, he or his officials have had with the IDA/Forbairt since the ceasefire and the announcement of the special support programme for peace and reconciliation to optimise the benefits to Border areas. [1507/96]
My Department has been involved in ongoing discussions with IDA Ireland and Forbairt since the cessation of violence in Northern Ireland with a view to taking advantage of the peace in order to promote new industrial development in the Border areas.
The industrial development activities of IDA Ireland and Forbairt under the Operational Programme for Industry are already co-financed by the EU. Details of new IDA and Forbairt industrial development projects in the Border region, including new Forbairt initiatives being undertaken in co-operation with the International Fund for Ireland and the United States Small Business Administration, were given in my reply to a parliamentary question regarding the economic benefits of the peace process to the region in the Dáil on Tuesday, 21 November 1995.
IDA Ireland has also been working with local authorities and public representatives to help identify the main infrastructural deficiencies in the Border counties which militate against those counties in the attraction of inward investment, in order that they might be addressed in the context of the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation and INTERREG.
