I am pleased to have the opportunity to discuss my Department's Estimate for 1999. With my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Flood, I will outline our expenditure plans for the rest of the current year in the areas of tourism, sport and recreation and local development, including the drugs initiative. I propose to go through the key areas of my Department's estimate in the order in which the subheads appear on the briefing material provided to members.
The administrative budget as contained in subheads A1 to A8 totals £4.213 million. While this is a relatively small sum in the context of the overall size of my Department's Estimate, it funds the running costs of my Department, including payroll and office overheads. The 1999 Estimate of £4,213,000 shows an increase of £487,000 on the 1998 outturn, but included in this year's figure is a carrying forward of savings of £200,000 from 1998.
The B subheads provide for tourism expenditure. Last year was an outstanding year for Irish tourism. Our international visitor numbers for 1998 were over 5.7 million and it is estimated that they will reach the six million mark by the end of the current year. Foreign revenue earnings in 1998 were up by 9 per cent from 1997 to a record £2.3 billion. Tourism is now our second largest industry, supporting more than 125,000, or one in 12, jobs.
In 1999 we are likely to see a continuation of the strong growth achieved in the British and American markets in 1998. The overall targets for 1999 are a 7 per cent increase in numbers and a 9 per cent increase in revenue which would bring tourist spending to £2.5 billion which is more than three times the level of spending at the beginning of this decade. Recent CSO estimates already show the number of visitors up 15 per cent for the first quarter of 1999, on figures for the same period last year.
I cannot overstate the contribution which two successive EU operational programmes for tourism have made to our recent tourism performance. However, given the uncertainty over the precise details of future EU funding, we have to be prudent and consider all possible additional funding alternatives. I have been looking at options with the industry, including a possible tourist levy. In the meantime, it is essential that the level of overseas marketing is maintained at a level sufficient to sustain Ireland's competitive position in the world market. The allocations for tourism marketing and promotion in this Estimate will allow Bord Fáilte, in partnership with the industry, to undertake an enhanced overseas and regional tourism marketing campaign in 1999. While it is clear we cannot direct tourists to areas where they do not wish to go, we can encourage and promote the beauty, quality of facilities and all round attractiveness of our lesser known regions.
Regional distribution of tourism requires a long-term perspective, utilising product development, access, and marketing. I was very pleased this House had the foresight to approve additional funding by way of Supplementary Estimate, both in 1997 and 1998, for initiatives aimed at spreading the benefits of tourism growth throughout the regions. The strategy is to provide overseas visitors with the best possible information on the attractions and holiday possibilities of all parts of Ireland.
The impact of the marketing actions now being undertaken will take some time to filter through. Initial feedback, however, from both the agencies and the industry, is very positive, and the funds provided are believed to have empowered positive action in all regions, particularly on the western seaboard.
Turning to the specific subheads in the 1999 Estimates, I will start with the largest, subhead B1, which provides a grant-in-aid to Bord Fáilte Éireann of £22.386 million. Subhead B1 provides for the administration and general expenses of Bord Fáilte under various headings including pay, other administrative costs, advertising, promotional activities, subvention to the regional tourism authorities, RTAs, and non-overseas tourism marketing initiative OTMI marketing expenditure. Leaving aside the special funding provided to the board in the 1998 Supplementary Estimate to which I have already referred, the 1999 allocation is set at a similar level to that provided in 1998.
However, the original 1999 published Estimate of £26.386 million has been reduced by £4 million to take account of the planned creation of the new North-South tourism marketing company. Some £4 million for marketing expenditure has been provided in a separate subhead B3 for anticipated spending by the new company in 1999. While we are all aware of the remaining difficulties to be overcome in the peace process, I remain optimistic that they will be resolved and that as the new millennium draws ever closer, we will finally have the structures in place to enable the entire island to benefit from an even greater economic boom than we are already enjoying.
This allocation is provisional and is without prejudice to the outcome of discussions of the North-South Ministerial Council which will determine the final funding and activities of the proposed new company.
Also on marketing, I propose that part of the £4.55 million allocated in the budget for tourism marketing, and provided under subhead B4 - special tourism marketing initiatives - of my Department's Vote, will be used by Bord Fáilte to fund a series of specific initiatives, directed at overseas marketing campaigns. This will enable Bord Fáilte to complement and extend its overseas marketing programme particularly in the key British, US and continental European markets.
Millennium Festivals Limited will receive £2.5 million from the same subhead in 1999. This initiative was devised as a means of celebrating the millennium, using the infrastructure of some of our most successful festivals. Ireland's millennium celebrations have had a most successful start with SkyFest on St. Patrick's weekend which was a marvellous occasion.
The subhead also provides for support for the eight year marketing strategy for Irish golf holidays in the run up to the 2005 Ryder Cup which will take place in the K Club, and for a special tourism marketing initiatives scheme which I introduced last year. I am looking forward to supporting further innovative and interesting tourism related projects, not normally eligible for support under existing funding mechanisms, under the latter scheme in 1999.
Subheads B5 and B6 provide for tourism expenditure by Shannon Development. They will continue to initiate and support tourism development as a key element of their overall economic growth strategy for the mid-west region. They will receive £912,000 in grant aid from subhead B5 in 1999 to carry out this activity.
Subhead B6 has been introduced for 1999, to provide Shannon Development with £1 million to underwrite grant expenditure on applications actively under consideration by the independent management board for product developmentunder the EU operational programme for tourism, in anticipation of European Regional Development Fund funding becoming available later in the year as a result of reallocations within the programme, project de-commitments, deflator receipts, etc. As the programme is due to close at end of this year, the management board and myself were anxious to avoid a situation whereby good projects might not be funded because European Regional Development Fund funds for allocation to them became available too late in the programme. A provision of £6.5 million has also been included in subhead B2 for similar purposes. This is to underwrite grant expenditure on allocations by the independent management board for product development - Bord Fáilte area, which covers the remaining regions in the country. The provision accounts for the increase on 1998 in subhead B2.
Subhead B6 also includes a provision of £1 million to enable Shannon Development, through its subsidiary, Shannon Heritage, to develop a mining heritage project at Silvermines, County Tipperary.
Subhead B7 deals with CERT. The estimated Exchequer allocation to CERT for 1999 is £3.996 million which will be augmented by European Social Funds of £11.9 million, bringing their total allocation to £15.896 million. CERT expects to train more than 11,000 people for the industry in 1999. Under its three main measures, it organises courses for the unemployed, young first time job seekers and those already working in the industry. While there is still evidence of staff and skill shortages in certain areas of the industry, these are primarily in direct response to the levels of growth experienced in both the industry and the economy in recent years.
Subhead B8 provides £466,000 in 1999 towards the cost of the interest subvention on the tourism element of the loan subsidy for the small business expansion scheme. This was a £100 million loan fund made available in the 1994 budget to small businesses in the manufacturing, tourism and internationally traded services sectors, of which £25 million was allocated for projects in tourism. A Government interest subsidy of 3 per cent enabled borrowers to avail of loans at a rate of 6.75 per cent. The scheme was administered by the ICC Bank and has been closed to new applicants since April 1996. The interest subsidy payment in 1999, the final year of subsidies under the scheme, is £466,000.
The EU Support Measure for Small Business was launched by the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the following year, in September 1995. A sum of £52 million or 25 per cent of that fund was reserved for the tourism sector, administered by the four main banks. Loans were for a fixed term of seven years at a fixed interest rate of 6.5 per cent. The interest subsidy is jointly funded by the EU, the Exchequer and the banks. All funds were drawn down by 31 December 1996 and the scheme is now closed. The Exchequer's liability for interest subsidy payments in respect of the tourism sector loans in 1999 will be £1.08 million.
Subhead B10 provides for gross Exchequer support in excess of £4 million in 1999 for the Overseas Tourism and Marketing Initiative. This example of cross-border, co-operative marketing is to be encouraged at all levels and the intention is that its activities will be incorporated at the appropriate time in the proposed new all-Ireland tourism marketing company.
Before leaving the tourism sector I will update the committee on the recent progress of the national conference centre project - European Commission approval in principal for a 33 million euro European Regional Development Fund grant for the Spencer Dock proposal has been secured and, more recently, a third party procedural complaint has been disposed of.
The other major issues, including the consortium's planning application for its project, are also moving ahead. Time is of the essence as we move towards the end of the Tourism Operational Programme under which the project will be grant-aided. I am already in negotiations with the Commission, on behalf of the Government and the developer, on the arrangement which might apply to accommodate the successful completion of the project under the programme.
I now turn to the Estimates for sport and recreation. This Government has brought a new drive and momentum to the development of sport. Funding available for sport has been increased to £39 million this year compared with £13 million under the last Government. As the first cabinet Minister with responsibility for sport, I am proud that this is the largest annual budget ever allocated by a Government for assisting development in sport.
Under subhead C1 - Grants-in-Aid for General Expenses of Sports Organisations and other Expenditure in relation to Sports Activities - a sum of £3.451million pounds has been made available to fund the current sports expenditure for the period January to June of this year, including a residual amount until the end of the year. From July onwards responsibility for the major activities funded under subhead C1 will be transferred to the new statutory sports council for which provision for 1999 is made by way of grant-in-aid under a new subhead C7.
The original Estimate for subhead C1, £9.081 million, has accordingly been reduced by £5.63 million pounds and this sum transferred to subhead C7 for expenditure by the new council for the remaining six months of 1999.
The Sports Capital Programme, covered by subheads C2 and C3, is the primary vehicle for promoting the development of sport and recreation facilities and I am happy to say the Government has committed more than £50 million for expenditure under the programme over the next three years of which £14.75 million has been provided in 1999. This is a three-fold increase over what was provided in the previous three years and follows a comprehensive review of the programme completed by my Department last year. As a result, a new programme has been developed with revised aims and objectives, with revised assessment criteria and terms and conditions for grant assistance.
Under the new programme special priority is being given to the development of facilities in disadvantaged areas in line with Government policy aimed at increasing participation in sport and recreation particularly in those areas. Some 1,900 applications from across the country were received under the new programme prior to the closing date for receipt of such applications. I expect to be in a position to make announcements on the 1999 round of grant allocations before the end of July to the value of approximately £10 million.
My Department also administers the £20 million grant approved by the Government for the on-going development of Croke Park. To date an amount of £7 million has been paid and a further £7 million provided for in subhead C4 will be paid this year.
The Government has agreed to provide capital assistance of up to £6 million and annual operational assistance of up to £250,000 for up to 20 years towards the construction of a national, 50 metre swimming pool capable of meeting the training requirements of the country's high-performance swimmers. The capital assistance grant for this project has been provided for under subhead C5 of my Departments Estimates for 1999, while provision for the annual operational assistance will be made over the coming years.
A High Court action taken by a disqualified tenderer has delayed the completion of the tendering process. However, in a reserved judgment delivered on 16 June, last week, the Court ruled in favour of my Department. I expect the process to be brought to conclusion shortly and the successful tender to be identified in the near future.
Subhead C6 deals with the swimming pools programme, which provides capital funding towards the approved cost of refurbishing existing local authority pools and the construction of new pools with the remainder of the cost being funded by local contribution. Applications for funding under the programme must be submitted via the local authorities’ supporting the project.
A total of £16 million in grant aid has been allocated since 1988 under the programme in respect of refurbishment works at 25 pools and construction of three new pools. The provision is £3 million for this year and this money is fully committed to the refurbishment of three pools in Arklow, Monaghan and Waterford, the construction of six new pools in Ennis, Navan, Athlone, Enniscorthy, Wicklow Town and Galway, in the Renmore area, and the remainder is due on outstanding balances on three recently completed projects.
My Department is currently planning a review of the entire swiming pool programme including the procedures for the planning and financing of swimming pools and technical guidelines which set out my Department's requirements in relation to the planning, the approval and the funding of pool projects and also of requirements in relation to the maintenance and management to ensure the best value for State investment.
I have already mentioned the new subhead, C7, which provides £5.676 million in grant aid to the new statutory sports council. An amount of £5.630 million has been transferred to this subhead from subhead C1, a net £46,000 has also been transferred from the Department's administrative budget to cover administrative overhead costs which have transferred to the council.
The establishment of the council on 1 July next will be one of the most historic and most significant events in the development of Irish sport. Recruitment of staff for the new council began last year and a new premises has been secured in Fitzwilliam Square leaving the new body in a strong position to hit the ground running. The Irish Sports Council Act was signed into law by the President on 18 May last, and the order of establishment was signed by me on 14 June 1999. The establishment of this new framework represents the achievement of one of the key policy objectives of the Government in sport and recreation.
I take this opportunity to thank this committee most sincerely and the members of both houses who contributed in such a positive and constructive manner to the debates. One of the top priorities of the new council will be to launch into operation the national anti-doping programme.
Meanwhile, in pursuit of the policy objective of developing strategies to increase participation in sport, my Department has agreed with the Department of Education and Science to launch an initiative involving the new Irish sports council and the national coaching and training centre which is designed to help schools increase participation in sport and physical education. The Department of Education and Science is already piloting a new physical education curriculum in selected schools throughout the country.
The new initiative will provide for specialist training in the National Coaching and Training Centre for club coaches, teachers and parents which will enable them to work with children in selected schools in expanding and enhancing the range and quality of sport available. This training will help achieve synergy between schools and the resources and expertise available to them in clubs and sports organisations in the local community.
Other children's and school sports programmes under way are Youth Sport Foyle and Youth Sport West, operated by Donegal and Sligo vocational education committees respectively, in co-operation with the Western Education and Library Board in Northern Ireland. The purpose of these projects is to develop mechanisms to establish and maintain ongoing links between schools and sports organisations and local clubs with the aim of providing positive sporting experiences for school children across a range of sports activities.
I decided to suspend funding for swimming last year, arising from very serious incidents concerning the safety of children in the sport. I stated that I would not consider restoring the funding until the wider membership of the organisation had expressed its confidence in the procedures and made arrangements for the safety of their younger members. Since then, the former IASA has been replaced by a new governing body, Swim Ireland, on a completely restructured and revamped organisational basis, providing for greater openness, transparency and accountability, with increased involvement by members. This is more in line with modern management practices and governance. In tandem with the committee's consideration and subsequent decision to publish the report of the independent inquiry into matters relating to child sexual abuse in swimming, I requested Dr. Breda McLeavey, Chairperson of the expert committee which originally drew up the code of ethics and good practice for children's sport in Ireland, to reconvene the committee to review the code's contents in the light of this report. The committee has already carried out a considerable amount of work and is awaiting finalisation of new overarching guidelines by the Department of Health and Children on handling child abuse cases, before completing its review. The revised code will be published as soon as it is available.
Provision of £2.5 million has been made under the new D5 subhead of my Department's 1999 Vote for the Special Olympic World Summer Games in 2003. In 1997 the Government decided to approve grant assistance, up to a maximum of £5 million, with an initial annual grant instalment of £250,000 in 1999, towards the cost of implementing a bid to host the games in 2003. However, in order to enable the games organising committee step up the momentum of its fundraising efforts and to leverage financial backing on the scale required from other sources by the end of 1999, the Minister for Finance decided that the allocation for the games in the 1999 Estimates should be increased from £250,000 as provided for in the Abridged Book of Estimates for 1999, to £2.5 million, within the original £5 million envelope.
Special Olympics International recently announced that Ireland had been chosen to host the games in 2003, the first occasion on which it will be held outside the US. While the games themselves will be staged in Dublin, the associated host programmes will involve communities throughout the island, North and South.
The games organising committee has a major task ahead of it, not least in raising the necessary financial resources required to fund the games. Once again I urge the Irish business community to follow the enthusiastic and generous example of existing sponsors and come forward with pledges. In a unique development in the history of the games, the Taoiseach has decided to chair a special council of patrons of the games which will draw together the resources and motivation necessary to ensure their success.
The appropriations-in-aid, subhead E, provides for moneys received by way of appropriations-in-aid to the Department of Tourism, Sport and Recreation Vote. The main receipts concern drawdowns of European Social Fund moneys for the three EU funded programmes - local urban and rural development, URBAN, and Peace and Reconciliation, administered by my Department. The estimate for ESF receipts for 1999 is projected at £11.253 million. Additionally, some £270,000 of miscellaneous receipts are predicted, including £231,000 for the waymarked ways programme, making a total appropriations-in-aid provision of £11.523 million.
The overall increase of 47 per cent in the annual Estimate provision for tourism, sport, recreation and local development services comes on top of an increase of 6.5 per cent in 1998 and is one of the most tangible expressions of the Government's ongoing commitments to, and prioritisation of the development of these sectors.
Deputy Flood, Minister of State with special responsibility for local development and the drugs initiative, will now deal with the remainder of the Vote.
