Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 24 Oct 2001

Vol. 542 No. 6

Written Answers. - Departmental Spending.

Gerry Reynolds

Question:

253 Mr. G. Reynolds asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage Gaeltacht and the Islands the money allocated and spent to date in 2001 by her Department in each county excluding the BMW region under the National Development Plan. [25402/01]

Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands (Miss de Valera):

The information requested by the Deputy, in respect of the NDP programmes in the southern and eastern region in which my Department is involved, is as follows:

	Allocated2001£000	Spent2001(£000)
Dublin	12,239	1,568
Meath	2,436	238
Kildare	1,248	973
Wicklow	2,025	118
Wexford	2,181	209
Waterford	1,138	514
Kilkenny	851	222
Carlow	3,374	591
Tipperary (South)	3,190	193
Limerick	2,195	716
Clare	5,565	2,047
Tipperary (North)	220	27
Cork	3,749	3,101
Kerry	4,857	2,156
NPWS* (see note 3)	5,005	114
Total	50,374	12,787

The Deputy will notice the considerable difference between the allocation and actual expenditure in this year to date. A number of factors have brought about this situation, not least the foot and mouth scare which affected progress in many of the projects, particularly those based in rural areas.

Also, the projects to benefit under the ACCESS scheme have recently been selected, so it is likely that expenditure in respect of these projects will increase significantly in 2002 and in subsequent years.

In the case of County Dublin, a number of major projects, such as those involving St. Stephen's Green and the Palm House at the National Botanic Gardens, have had to go through lengthy tendering and planning processes respectively, so major expenditure should come on stream in 2002 and subsequent years in the County Dublin area.

Note 1 – The above figures do not incorporate the allocation and expenditure under the NDP in 2001 of the Film Board or Screen Training Ireland, both of which are funded by my Department. It was not possible to break down the figures by county in the time available. However I have instructed that the breakdown be provided and I will arrange for the material to be sent to the Deputy shortly.

Note 2 – Waterways Ireland – Plant and Machinery Allocated 2001 £220,000. Spent to date 2001 £190,000. In the case of Waterways Ireland, it is not possible to allocate Plant and Machinery by county as this equipment is used on an inter county basis as the work demands. The amount spent (£190,000) is not included in the overall totals provided.

Note 3* – This allocation of £5.005 million referred to in the above table was provided by the National Parks and Wildlife Service of my Department on a national, rather then county-by-county, basis in respect of programmes such as Land Purchase, SAC Compensation, and Improvement of Visitor Facilities at Parks and Nature Reserves, and thus could not be included in the county-by-county totals. However, expenditure from this allocation has been incorporated into the county-by-county totals, with the exception of £114,000 referred to in the above table, which is in respect of the Parks and Nature Reserves Visitor Facilities programme in 2001 for which a county-by-county breakdown is not available, given the cross-county nature of the expenditure in question.