Vol. 488 No. 7
34 Mr. Broughan asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the plans, if any, he has for the maintenance and development of government supported local economic initiatives on enterprise and employment following the ending of the current phase of EU funding in 1999. [4087/98]
Responsibility for local economic initiatives on enterprise and employment is spread across several Departments including the Taoiseach's, Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Social, Community and Family Affairs, Agriculture and Food, Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, etc.
My Department, in the context of overall local development, oversees the implementation of two EU funded programmes which support specifically local enterprise and employment initiatives. These are the Operational Programmes for Local, Urban and Rural Development (LURD) and for URBAN.
Any plans for the future of the local economic initiatives, being implemented under these programmes, will be very much bound up with the extent and shape of future EU funding for Ireland. The Commission's Agenda 2000 proposals and the corresponding draft regulations, which were published last week, will have an important bearing on those plans.
It is too early to get into detailed discussions of plans given that the implications of these important EU documents are still being studied by my Department, with a view to evolving an appropriate input to the national negotiating position. I understand the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is similarly engaged. Meanwhile, the interdepartmental policy committee on local development which is chaired by me, has also initiated discussions on the issue.
We should aim to maintain and develop the positive aspects of the operational programmes, especially the focus on the reintegration of the long-term unemployed into the social and economic fabric of Irish society.
