Bertie Ahern
Question:2 Mr. B. Ahern asked the Taoiseach the amount of Exchequer and EU money allocated under the URBAN initiative in each year since its inception; and the amount received in each area. [10565/97]
Ceisteanna—Questions. - URBAN Initiative.
Some £21 million will be spent on the implementation of URBAN Operational Programme, 1996-99. The Structural Funds, European Regional Development Fund and ESF, will provide 75 per cent of the funding and the Exchequer will provide the balance.
The three areas in which URBAN is being implemented are Ballymun-Finglas-Darndale, Tallaght-Clondalkin and the northside of Cork city. Over £10 million has been allocated to Ballymun-Finglas-Darndale and £5.5 million to each of the other two areas. The action plans for the three areas were developed during 1996 and, with the adoption of their strategies by the URBAN monitoring committee last January, the first draw down of funds for the steering groups arose in 1997.
Some £5.708 million has been provided under subhead F3 of this Department's Vote for URBAN in 1997. This includes the provision to match the EU contributions, which are received as appropriations-in-aid. To date, only the north Dublin steering group has drawn down any funding — it received £200,000 last month. The operating budgets for 1997 have been submitted by the other two steering groups and the administrative arrangements for the handling of these funds are being finalised. It is expected that funds will be released shortly.
I expect funds will be released shortly. Why was there undue delay in allocating funds to the other regions? Was the delay caused by the Minister's Department or was it on the part of those making the submissions? The Minister said it is expected allocations will be made shortly. I fully understand that because they will be used as election ploys. Which groups are expected to receive money?
Of the £5.7 million earmarked by my Department in 1997, I expect most of the money will be drawn down by the three groups this year. I accept it has taken some time for the structures to be put in place to develop the action plans for each of the three areas, but it has been time well spent. URBAN is an initiative which calls for new ways of working. To be successful, it is vital that a clear strategy be developed and agreed and that a firm foundation be established in each case.
Community development related activities have started in each of the three areas and it is expected that the activity levels will progress steadily over the coming months. Representatives from my Department and the EU on the monitoring committee were anxious to ensure that we were not simply providing funds to replace plans in the pipeline by other authorities, but to ensure it was additional and that it would meet the specific objectives set out for it.
Will the Minister clarify where the money will be allocated between now and the election, which is obviously what is intended, or has a decision been made?
The Ballymun-Finglas-Darndale area will receive over £10 million and £5.5 million will go to Tallaght-Clondalkin and the northside of Cork city. Some £5.7 million of that will be spent this year and it will depend on the readiness of the three areas to draw down the funds and how far advanced their plans are. The URBAN initiative is 75 per cent European-funded and it operates across the EU. To suggest this is in any way connected with the election is a distortion which we have come to expect daily.
The objective of this plan is to meet the needs of communities in terms of employment and enterprise development, training and education, community infrastructure, children and youth programmes, environmental improvements and community development. I, as Minister, and the monitoring committee were anxious to ensure this complemented the work of partnerships, where in place, and the local authorities. That is the reason it has taken time. We are not prepared to allocate money to the first application. All applications have been monitored and carefully worked out to ensure they meet these objectives effectively. In meeting those objectives, they will help to counter the long-term causes of disadvantage and long-term unemployment.
I understand the Minister will select projects carefully — there is no doubt about that. Will he list the projects which submitted applications and which are being considered? When does the Minister intend to confirm that projects have been lucky?
There is nothing lucky about this.
Fortunate.
This is being done objectively. Three areas were selected based on submissions made. They set out a number of proposals to meet the criteria I listed, including employment and enterprise development and so on. A steering group, led by the local authorities and including area partnership companies and other relevant organisations and groups, such as county enterprise boards, FÁS, the vocational education committees, Forbairt, Tallaght regional technical college and Dublin City University, analysed a series of proposals put forward. These have been developed into a comprehensive plan. I will be happy to send the Deputy a copy of the plan, all of which are quite detailed.