Mary Coughlan
Question:307 Miss Coughlan asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the funding, if any, that is available for hostel accommodation under the tourism measures. [5003/98]
Written Answers - Hostel Accommodation.
It has been policy for some time not to provide support for tourist accommodation projects on the basis of the proven ability of the commercial accommodation sector to respond, without grant assistance, to growth in visitor numbers.
This approach was incorporated into the Operational Programme for Tourism 1989-1993, agreed with the European Commission and, by and large, carried forward into the current operational programme. The current programme did make an exception in the case of a number of specific market segments by providing for limited grant aid for certain specialist accommodation where the quality of existing accommodation was recognised to be deficient.
However, already, all funds in this regard under the programme are fully committed. Under the mid-term review of the programme no additional funding became available for the product development sub-programme.
Other EU-funded programmes which provide support for smaller tourism initiatives, including accommodation, are the programme for agriculture, rural development and forestry and the Leader II programme administered by the Department of Agriculture and Food. There is also the local, urban and rural development operational programme under which,inter alia, the county enterprise boards operate. In the Border counties, limited assistance is also available under the IFI and INTERREG programmes and the Programmes for Peace and Reconciliation.
Additionally, all registered and approved tourism accommodation was eligible for low interest loans under the access to finance scheme launched in September 1995 under the small business operational programme. Since £52 million of this £208 million fund was specially earmarked for tourism projects throughout the country but the target was actually exceeded with the allocation of over £56 million — 27 per cent of the fund — to tourism. A similar scheme especially for the Border counties was introduced under the Peace and Reconciliation Fund and all of it has now been committed.
Furthermore, investment in registered or approved tourist accommodation in any of the resort areas designated under the pilot tax relief scheme for certain resort areas may also qualify for generous tax reliefs under the scheme.