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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 26 Jun 1996

Vol. 467 No. 5

Written Answers. - INTERREG Programme.

James Leonard

Question:

38 Mr. Leonard asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the type of training envisaged in the £500,000 allocation for the INTERREG 11 Human Resources Development Programme; and the counties that will benefit from this facility. [12712/96]

The INTERREG Community Initiative referred to in the Deputy's question is a programme operated by the European Union to assist Border areas throughout the Community and to develop and improve cross-Border co-operation.

Under the INTERREG II Initiative one of the areas benefiting is Northern Ireland and the Republic's Border counties. Under the training and education measure in this programme, for which my Department is responsible in the Republic's case, funding has recently been approved for 24 projects from a total of 73 applications received.

The projects selected will provide a wide variety of training in various sectors such as in forestry, where for example, Coillte will be providing training in development of the forestry industry, in the craft and design sector where the Craft Council of Ireland will provide training on both product and business development. Further examples are in the tourism sector where a series of projects by promoters such as Údarás na Gaeltachta and Transnational Consulting Resources Ltd. will provide specialised training in various aspects of the tourism industry. In the education sector a programme of vocational training for toenage and young adults of the travelling community will be developed by vocational education colleges in the region.
These examples illustrate the varied nature of the training to be provided by the approved projects. Other sectors whose training needs will be addressed by the projects selected include community development, healthcare provision, film/TV production, fashion, engineering and youth services.
The projects approved represent the first tranche of training projects under INTERREG II. My Department will be announcing a further call for similar training projects under this initiative during 1997.
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