Vol. 503 No. 6
144 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Finance if his attention has been drawn to the dissatisfaction at the omission of the parish of Curry from the Upper Shannon basin area selected for rural renewal tax reliefs; the plans, if any, he has to include it as a designated area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10773/99]
I am aware of dissatisfaction expressed by the residents of this and certain other areas that were not designated under the rural renewal scheme. However, as I explained in my budget speech of last December, I will not be in a position to consider extending the scheme to other areas until I receive EU Commission approval for the business elements of the scheme. The latest position regarding the approval of the scheme is that the EU Commission has recently written to this Department with further queries arising from our response to their previous letter seeking, additional information. The reply to them is currently being prepared. This is part of the normal process associated with obtaining EU approval and that the procedure may take some time to complete.
