Vol. 488 No. 7
198 Mr. U. Burke asked the Minister for Finance if he will designate the area of east Galway in the Shannon basin, which is covered by the south Galway IRD under the rural renewal scheme, similar to the upper Shannon designation. [7292/98]
I announced in the budget that I would introduce a pilot rural renewal scheme for the upper Shannon area in the 1998 Finance Bill, subject to EU clearance. While full EU clearance has still to be obtained, details of the pilot scheme were contained in an amendment on Committee Stage of the 1998 Finance Bill. The area involved comprises all of counties Leitrim and Longford, north County Roscommon, the western part of County Cavan and a large part of County Sligo. I stress this is a pilot initiative and the Deputy will appreciate it is not possible to designate every part of the country. Consequently I have no plans to extend the rural renewal scheme beyond the areas already selected.
