Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 11 Nov 2003

Vol. 574 No. 1

Written Answers. - EU Funding.

Paudge Connolly

Question:

201 Mr. Connolly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the level of funding allocated to each county in the BMW region by her Department under the various operational programmes since the establishment of the BMW Regional Assembly; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26147/03]

Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment (Ms. Harney):

My Department is the designated managing authority for two of the operational programmes under the national development plan. These are the employment and human resources development operational and the productive sector operational programmes. My Department is also responsible for a number of measures under the regional operational programmes.

The funding allocations for measures under the programmes are made at the level of the two NUTS II regions, i.e. the BMW and south and east regions and is not, therefore, available at county level. Similarly, expenditure for each operational programme is reported to the relevant monitoring committees at NUTS II level only.

Nevertheless, where available, I am providing details of actual spending at county level by the relevant State agencies under the aegis of my Department. Material is not currently available in respect of spending by the IDA but this is being compiled at present and I will arrange for it to forwarded to the Deputy as soon as it becomes available. Enterprise Ireland implements a range of measures in the BMW region across three of the national development plan's six operational programmes.

The productive sector operational programme contains a range of measures targeted to address constraints on growth in scale, productivity, export levels, innovation and business development. The NDP outlines the strong link between investment in the research and innovation base of the economy and sustained economic growth. The investment on the productive sector operational programme is complemented by measures under the BMW operational programme funding regionally based incubators, which is aimed at supporting institutes of technology to build and run incubator and applied research space – allowing them to act as centres for industry collaboration and development. Under the employment and human resource development operational programme support is provided for in-company training targeted to support sustainable productivity and competitiveness improvement in SMEs by improving the quality and quantity of training and human resources development in those enterprises.

The following figures relate to the spend in the BMW region by Enterprise Ireland under these three programmes in the period from 1 January 2000 to 30 September 2003 is €96,106,175. The breakdown of this figure by county in the BMW region is as follows:

Companies, Infrastructure and Venture Capital

County	Payments –€
Cavan	4,851,028
Donegal	6,123,703
Galway	21,769,502
Laois	1,062,794
Leitrim	1,422,041
Longford	6,134,760

County	Payments –€
Louth	10,472,615
Mayo	7,679,062
Monaghan	14,579,652
Offaly	2,451,417
Roscommon	4,233,348
Sligo	2,550,371
Westmeath	3,541,229
Total	86,871,522

RTDI Collaboration – Third Level Colleges

County	Payments –€
Donegal	18,606
Galway	8,173,528
Louth	384,946
Sligo	229,831
Westmeath	427,741
Total	9,234,653

Science Foundation Ireland has also spent €3,457,639 in respect of funding awarded to NUI Galway in the period to end-September 2003.

The following is the spending by FÁS under the employment and human resources operational programme:

EHROP 2000-2006

FÁS – Total Expenditure

Border

BMW Region	2000	2001	2002	2003(Projected)	Total to Date
	€	€	€	€	€
Cavan	6,307,357	6,509,837	6,722,596	6,208,511	25,748,301
Donegal	28,426,837	29,922,277	28,625,638	26,436,599	113,411,351
Leitrim	5,051,068	5,301,764	5,140,413	4,747,319	20,240,564
Louth	28,527,760	33,526,460	34,861,938	32,196,001	129,112,159
Monaghan	8,119,866	8,209,162	36,884,476	34,063,873	87,277,377
Sligo	18,239,960	21,608,110	23,122,868	21,354,633	84,325,571
Total	94,672,848	105,077,610	135,357,929	125,006,937	460,115,32

Midlands

	€	€	€	€	€
Laois	7,977,735	8,331,725	7,902,950	7,298,601	31,511,011
Longford	6,060,966	6,165,464	5,293,303	4,888,517	22,408,250
Offaly	7,839,046	8,372,433	8,758,947	8,089,139	33,059,565
Westmeath	19,393,743	26,808,837	28,428,225	26,254,283	100,885,088
Total	41,271,490	49,678,459	50,383,425	46,530,541	187,863,91

West

	€	€	€	€	€
Co. Galway	21,695,143	21,959,177	18,769,238	17,333,931	79,757,489
Galway City	18,814,624	24,356,687	28,190,242	26,034,498	97,396,051
Mayo	22,345,413	22,836,885	19,913,799	18,390,966	83,487,063
Roscommon	7,055,400	6,435,279	6,175,366	5,703,128	25,369,173
Total	69,910,580	75,588,028	73,048,645	67,462,523	286,009,776

Overall Total

205,854,918230,344,097258,789,999239,000,000933,989,014 South-south west Offaly is the only part of Shannon Development's geographic responsibility that is in the BMW region, so the following figures only relate to that. The figures do not include any grants paid to FDI companies in that area, which are the IDA's responsibility.

Year	Grants Paid
2000	€167,974
2001	€72,439
2002	€231,312
2003	€165,100*

*YTD for 2003. This will not change substantially in the remainder of the year.

The following table shows expenditure in the county enterprise boards.

With regard to the 2003 figures the Deputy should note that these represent amounts allocated earlier in the year. Following representations from the boards the allocations have been reviewed and some of these figures have been or will be adjusted before the end of the year.

CEB Funding	2000	2001	2002	2003
Cavan	€874,830.49	€1,024,603.71	€780,045.73	€761,739.46
Donegal	€1,269,721.57	€1,104,006.79	€1,322,126.09	€1,139,573.98
Galway	€966,599.54	€956,044.21	€976,030.00	€825,108.69
Laois	€768,149.64	€669,151.97	€780,291.00	€726,900.99
Leitrim	€786,986.98	€784,317.21	€895,631.00	€732,086.89
Longford	€645,026.94	€684,388.82	€682,412.00	€665,114.82
Louth	€634,869.04	€752,954.68	€833,164.00	€885,666.31
Mayo	€899,996.70	€830,370.61	€956,587.00	€824,071.31
Monaghan	€971,349.63	€725,972.75	€716,782.00	€829,404.90
Offaly	€719,941.49	€716,132.28	€907,872.00	€732,640.20
Roscommon	€736,762.98	€658,994.06	€828,786.00	€724,586.46
Sligo	€770,413.58	€759,303.37	€886,315.00	€723,068.40
Westmeath	€793,586.30	€725,020.44	€969,585.00	€801,934.11
Misc Expenses	€8,919.66	€136,896.07	€233,827.23	€0.00
Total	€10,847,154.54	€10,528,156.97	€11,769,454.05	€10,371,896.52