Vol. 491 No. 1
21 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation when it is expected that the mid-term review of the URBAN operational programme will be completed; the work to date of the local development policy committee which he chairs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11244/98]
The mid-term review of the URBAN Operational Programme is due to be completed by 3 June 1998.
The interdepartmental policy committee on local development was reconstituted under my chairmanship in October 1997. It has a mandate in relation to the overall co-ordination of Government policy on local development. All Departments, with the exceptions of the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Defence, are represented on the committee as well as three agencies — Area Development Management Limited, Combat Poverty Agency and FÁS. There have been five committee meetings to date. The main themes of the committee's discussions to date have related to reviewing interdepartmental and agency co-ordination in relation to local development initiatives, developing a co-ordinated approach to meeting the needs of the most deprived urban areas, and considering the future of local development programmes post-1999.
The committee has been mandated to oversee an integrated services project. The project, which will operate in four pilot areas, seeks to develop new procedures to ensure a more focused and better co-ordinated response by the statutory authorities to the needs of committees with the greatest levels of disadvantage.
The committee is also considering the future of local development programmes post-1999, especially in the context of proposals for the closer integration of local development and local government systems. The committee has recently received presentations in this regard from area partnerships, Leader groups, county enterprise boards, local development liaison teams, the General Council of County Councils, the Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland, the Donegal County Manager and the Dublin City Manager. These presentations have primarily focused on three related issues: co-ordinated delivery of State services to disadvantaged areas, the shape and content of local development programmes post-1999 and the administrative context of these programmes post-1999.
I report to the Cabinet Committee on Social Inclusion, Drugs and Local Development in relation to the work of the committee.
What is causing the delay in distributing the funds under the URBAN programme? Will the Minister confirm figures I got at the Committee of Public Accounts last week to the effect that, although the decision was made in April l996 — £5 million to Ballymun-Finglas, £5 million to Tallaght-Clondalkin and £10 million to Cork northside — more than two years later only £0.7 million in Ballymun-Finglas, £0.5 million in Tallaght-Clondalkin and £0.2 million in Cork northside has been drawn down? What is the reason for this bureaucracy and interminable consultations in areas of greatest need? Is it not the case that the URBAN programme is supposed to target areas of greatest need? The Minister is aware, as I am, of very meritorious projects in our constituency, yet these moneys are waiting to be dispensed. Irrespective of the cause of the blockage the money cannot be distributed despite the existence of many meritorious projects.
The Deputy is correct in saying the drawdown of funds to these programmes has been slow. Obviously we are concerned about that matter. Progress in the early stage of the programme was slow. This was caused to some extent by the need for considerable local consultation and many of the major projects involved going through the whole planning process and lodging planning applications, all of which causes delays.
The report of the external evaluator on 3 June will help us identify areas that can be targeted in a more focused way to deal with the hold ups and may make recommendations as to how we can speed up the process on the drawdown of funds, which all of us are anxious should take place. We can make progress. I accept there has been a slowness in drawing down the funds. The report on 3 June will be of considerable help in this regard.
Will the Minister politically drive this programme? I am aware that the bodies to which he has referred are participating in the decisions. These interminable consultations must end sometime. I ask him to personally drive this programme and to publish the mid-term review so that the evaluation can be debated. Will he comment on, for example, the Cosán project in west Tallaght, with which he is familiar, and whether it might be eligible for funding under this programme?
It would be my intention to have the evaluation report published and made available to Members who have a keen interest in this programme.
As I explained at a public meeting recently, the Cosán project, which the promoters propose to locate in the Jobstown area, fits in nicely with the Government's efforts to target social exclusion and disadvantage. Therefore it would have my personal support. I have indicated to the promoters that I am anxious to be of assistance and will seek to ensure, wherever possible, they will get resources, either through this programme or one or two other programmes with which the Deputy will be familiar, including the local drugs taskforce and the youth amenities and facilities fund. The particular project could be assisted through any of those three programmes. We will work together as a team in the area to ensure that happens.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.
