I propose to take Questions Nos. 17, 28, 30, 47, 58 and 65 together.
Within the framework of the URBAN initiative, EU funding was made available for integrated development programmes for a limited number of geographically defined deprived urban areas throughout the European Union — three of them in Ireland. The three selected areas in Ireland negotiated between the Government and the European Commission in 1996 are Ballymun/Finglas/Darndale in north Dublin, west Tallaght/Clondalkin in southwest Dublin and the northside of Cork city.
The Operational Programme URBAN — Ireland 1996 to 1999 is designed to tackle urban issues in an integrated way by supporting business creation, improving infrastructure, social amenities and the physical environment and by providing customised training and actions for equality of opportunity in line with the strategic action plans drawn up and completed by locally established steering groups in each of the three areas. The steering group in each area implements its action plan.
The total funding of URBAN, including 25 per cent Exchequer co-financing, is approximately £21 million. The funding available to the North Dublin URBAN Steering Group is approximately £10 million and approximately £5 million is available to both the South Dublin and Cork groups. The balance is provided for the Technical Assistance Sub-Programme, which covers such aspects as monitoring, financial management and evaluation, information and publicity programmes and transnational links.
As the programme moved from the detailed planning stage to the implementation phase, the steering groups in each of the three areas had to consult widely with local communities to ensure that the end result of their plans would make a lasting improvement in the lives of the people living there. In addition, large-scale capital projects had to be fully costed and, in order for them to proceed, necessary planning permission and sufficient capital funding to complete the project had to be in place together with an appropriate and inclusive management structure to run them after 1999. As a result, expenditure to the end of 1997 was quite slow.
However, since then the rate of spend has increased considerably and to date funding of £8.3 million has been drawn down by the steering group as follows: £4 million by north Dublin, £1.4 million by south Dublin and £2.9 million by the northside of Cork. By the end of June 1998, the three steering groups had collectively committed a total of £13.8 million or 67 per cent of the URBAN budget as follows: £4.6 million or 45 per cent of the north Dublin budget; £4.7 million or 93 per cent of the south Dublin budget; and £4.5 million or 89 per cent of the Cork budget.
In the case of north Dublin a further £4.11 million has also been earmarked for a number of significant flagship projects which the steering group consider integral to the success of the URBAN plan. It is anticipated that legally binding commitments in relation to these projects can be entered into by early 1999 at the latest, when the National Monitoring Committee for URBAN will again review progress on all key projects.
The mid-term evaluation of the programme has been completed and was adopted by the monitoring committee at its meeting on 17 September 1998. I have arranged for a copy of the evaluation, together with copies of the 1997 annual report and the six month progress report to the end of June 1998, to be forwarded to Deputies Allen, Bradford, Burke, Creed, Rabbitte and Sheehan.