Vol. 519 No. 2
301 Mr. Lawlor asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation if, further to Parliamentary Question No. 276 of 7 March 2000, progress has been made in finalising the guidelines for URBAN 2 Community Initiative for 2000-06; and if he has short listed a number of areas of the country from which the sole qualifying area will be chosen. [13265/00]
The EU Commission has just completed its work on drafting the guidelines for URBAN 2 and it is expected that these guidelines will be published in the Official Journal of the European Communities by the end of May 2000.
Member states have a period of six months from publication within which to present a programme to qualify for the available funding. In Ireland's case, one urban area will be the subject of support.
Identification of possible suitable candidate areas will take place in due course, for consideration and final decision by Government.
