Vol. 547 No. 1
196 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Public Enterprise the way in which the 3.8 million for the rural transport initiative are to be expended during 2002; the projects in County Meath which will be receiving assistance; and if she has satisfied herself that the funds will be provided for a transport service rather than for administration. [1389/02]
The rural transport initiative – RTI – is being administered on behalf of my Department by Area Development Management – ADM. Some 0.25 million of the overall funding of 3.8 million for the RTI in 2002 will be required by them for the management of the initiative. The remainder will be allocated to the community groups who successfully applied for funding to provide transport services in various parts of the country. On 21 January last I announced the names of the successful applicants for funding under the initiative. Among the 19 community groups selected by ADM is Meath Accessible Transport, a consortium of community, statutory and voluntary organisations in the county. While administrative costs are an unavoidable cost of any enterprise I know that ADM are very anxious to ensure that the bulk of the funding awarded to each group will go to the provision of transport services.
