I propose to take Questions Nos. 43 and 51 together.
The western lakes project has been receiving ongoing funding under the Tourism Angling Measure (TAM) since early 1995 with the important objective of rehabilitating the Corrib, Mask and Cara Lakes as prime brown trout fisheries for domestic and tourism angling. The amount of funds allocated for each of the years of the project is: £1.035 million in 1995, £0.220 million in 1997 and £0.800 million in 1998. This brings the total investment in the western lakes project to over £2 million and is nearly 12 per cent of the total funding available over the whole period under the Tourism Angling Measure. The £800,000 provided in 1998 is over 30 per cent of the funding approved this year. This was the amount recommended by the Tourism Angling Measure Management Committee for this project.
The objective of the Tourism Angling Measure, which is a component of the Operational Programme for Tourism, is to develop the national angling product to best international standards and significantly increase the number of tourist anglers visiting the country. Angling has tremendous benefits from the tourism perspective as a year round activity often in non-traditional tourism locations, delivering significant local economic return as well as contributing to the tourism sector overall. The main flagship investments under this measure have been in the west.
