Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 20 Feb 1997

Vol. 475 No. 3

Written Answers. - EU Grants.

Cecilia Keaveney

Question:

47 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Finance the costs involved of producing literature to outline the European grants available in 1995 and 1996; the manner in which such grants can be accessed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4754/97]

Minister for Finance (Mr. Quinn)

The Department of Finance is the joint manager with the Department of Finance and Personnel, Northern Ireland of the Ireland-Northern Ireland INTERREG Programme 1994-99, the Special Support Programme for Peace and Reconciliation for Northern Ireland and the Border Counties of Ireland and with the Welsh Office, Cardiff of the Ireland-Wales INTERREG Programme.

The cost to my Department of providing literature about European grants under these programmes during 1995 and 1996 was £17,785.71.

Decisions in relation to the awarding of grants under the programmes are made by joint working groups comprising the relevant sectoral interests. The extent of co-operation between the various elements of each working group varies from group to group, and is partly dependent on the nature of each measure.

An unusual feature of the peace and reconciliation programme is the extent to which implementation of the various measures has been devolved to intermediary funding bodies which are independent of Government. This departure from the norm was strongly recommended in the course of widespread consultation in the eligible areas carried out by the EU Commission task force and the two administrations.

Since that date the bodies have been actively involved in implementing the actions provided for under the measures. ADM and the Combat Poverty Agency have set up office in Monaghan town, and all of the measures for which they are responsible are managed from there. The office also provides a local focus for Co-operation North. In this way liaison between the bodies is enhanced.

Another innovative delivery mechanism involves county council-led task forces, operating in each of the six Border counties. They are responsible for a wide range of actions and have a considerable degree of discretion in deciding how the allocation is to be spent.

The Commission accepted that a small number of measures could not appropriately be devolved to intermediary funding bodies. The Department of the Environment is responsible for the cross-Border infrastructure measure. The Department of Foreign Affairs is responsible for measures involving cross-Border co-operative actions between public bodies.