Vol. 551 No. 4
53 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for the Marine and Natural Resources if grant aid in respect of the development of marinas, under the NDP tourism product development scheme, regional operational project BMW and SE&E can be applied to marinas on inland waterways; if it is restricted solely to coastal marinas; and if other forms of grant aid are available under any scheme for the development of inland marinas. [10908/02]
In developing its priorities for the national development plan, my Department, in consultation with the Marine Institute, has identified the lack of an adequate coastal infrastructure provision as a key development constraint to water-based tourism and leisure, and the most serious obstacle to development as being the lack of service infrastructure in coastal regions in terms of serviceable harbours, piers, slipways and moorings.
As a result, the improvement of access infrastructure in coastal and estuarine areas has been targeted by my Department as the primary focus for development under the marine tourism sub-measure which will be implemented by my Department as part of the two regional operational programmes of the National Development Plan 2000-2006. In pursuing this policy, it is intended that investment in infrastructure will concentrate on providing facilities in coastal areas which have suffered from under-investment in the past and which have the potential to provide either new, or enhanced, recreational infrastructure to facilitate activities like general boating, angling and water sports.
