Vol. 476 No. 7
181 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht the EU funding received by his Department in 1996; the funding which he expects to receive in 1997; and the relevant funds and budget lines under which such funding is received. [8017/97]
The estimated EU receipts underpinning the 1996 EU assisted programmes of my Department are outlined in table 9 and annex to table 9 of the 1996 volume of the revised Estimates for the Public Service. The corresponding figures for 1997 will be shown in the 1997 volume of the revised Estimates due to be published tomorrow.
Apart from other receipts indicated below, EU funds are not received directly by my Department but are recouped in arrears by the EU to the Department of Finance for the benefit of the Exchequer.
As indicated in the Book of Estimates the actual amounts received each year may vary somewhat from the estimated figures, depending on the progress of spending proposals.
The only EU funds received directly by my Department in the period in question are: those relating to EU travel, expenses for running the EU Presidency and technical assistance under Subprogramme 5 of the Operational Programme for Tourism 1994-99 to assist the implementation of the programme which were as follows: EU Travel: 1996, £69,193; 1997 (to date), £13,690; EU Presidency: 1996, £116,850; 1997 (to date), Nil; Technical Assistance: 1996, £16,370; 1997, Nil; a sum of £448,590 in respect of special protection areas under the life nature programme received in February 1997.
