Vol. 506 No. 3
38 Proinsias De Rossa asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the position regarding the continued operation of and funding for the URBAN programmes in Dublin and Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15477/99]
URBAN is a Community initiative of the European Commission under which assistance is made available for integrated development programmes for a limited number of geographically defined deprived urban areas throughout the EU. The operational programme for URBAN in Ireland has total funding of about £21 million over the period 1994-1999 and operates in three areas: north Dublin – Ballymun, Finglas and Darndale; south Dublin – west Tallaght and north Clondalkin; and northside of Cork city. While all commitments under the current programme must be made by the end of 1999 spending can continue until the end of 2001.
Although the Commission's Agenda 2000 proposals did not originally contemplate the continuance of the URBAN initiative after 1999, the Commission has decided to retain the URBAN initiative, to be known as URBAN 2, in the next round of EU Structural Funds. The decision will come into force as part of the overall regulation for the next round of EU Structural Funds being published at the end of this month.
The Commission intends to publish a framework for URBAN 2 by the end of the summer. Until such time as the framework is published, it is impossible to anticipate how exactly the initiative will operate in Ireland. It is known that cities and towns with a population of 50,000 and over will be eligible for inclusion in URBAN 2 whereas the current URBAN initiative stipulates that only cities and towns with populations of 100,000 and over meet the eligibility criteria.
The Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation is taking account of the experience being gained from the implementation of the current URBAN initiative in the cities of Dublin and Cork, in the context of the formulation of its strategy for local development post-1999.
