Vol. 545 No. 4
114 Mr. Timmins asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources the parts of the national development plan or the projects which have been put on hold or slowed down as a result of the downturn in the economy and the accompanying shortfall in incoming revenue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30685/01]
The process of finalising the operational programme complements, the impact of the foot and mouth disease crisis and delays in EU State aid clearance, rather than the economic downturn, have to date more directly impacted on NDP investment in the marine and natural resources areas. Despite these factors significant progress on a range of marine and natural resources programmes has already been made and all measures will be fully up and running in 2002.
It is clear that the budgetary parameters for 2002 will require some modification of the year on year indicative allocations over the seven year period of the NDP. In this context I will, in the coming weeks, be examining in detail the pre-budget and post-budget allocations for the marine and natural resources sectors with a view to ensuring that short-term priority commitments are met in the context of the overall investment envelope of some 1.7 billion for those sectors over the seven year period of the plan.
My objective is to ensure that projects that have been selected to date, and those that will be selected under new proposals, can be completed within the overall timeframe of the plan.
