Vol. 549 No. 1
213 Cecilia Keaveney asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the advantages under his Department's remit that have accrued to County Donegal and the north west region arising from the Objective One designation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6044/02]
Under the national development plan the BMW region including County Donegal was granted Objective One status which allows the State to provide a higher level of support, up to 75% in certain instances, in comparison to other regions of the country where the maximum level for State aid is 50%. Funding is allocated on a regional basis and as a result it is not possible in most instances to provide specific information in relation to any individual county.
Details of allocations under the NDP to the BMW region in respect of the various programmes for which my Department has responsibility are set out hereunder:
A sum of about €108 million has been provided to the BMW region for social inclusion measures under my Department's remit over the seven year period of the programme. Of this amount €2.06 million has been expended to date in County Donegal.
Some €52 million has been allocated under the BMW regional operational programmes for three tourism sub-measures under the local enterprise development priority. This funding will be administered by Bord Fáilte Éireann under its new tourism product development scheme 2002-06 which, late last year, secured state aids approval from the European Commission. Project proposals have now been invited by the board.
Under the employment and human resources development programme €47.62 million has been allocated to the BMW region over the seven year period of the programme. To date €3.3 million of this has been spent in Donegal.
Additionally, more than €440 million has been allocated under the tourism marketing fund of the productive sector operational programme under the NDP. This funding is being used to promote Ireland internationally as a tourist destination in key markets and to support the development and marketing of special interest products. Due to the nature of these activities it is not possible to disaggregate the expenditure on a county basis.
Some €32 million has been allocated to the region for the provision of community sporting and recreational facilities under the culture, recreation and sports measure of the local infrastructure sub-programme. The Department will begin preparations for the implementation of this sub-measure, once the national spatial strategy, currently being undertaken by the Department of Environment and Local Government, has been completed and the gateway towns, which are the proposed target of the sub-measure, have been identified.
