Ciarán Cuffe
Question:107 Mr. Cuffe asked the Minister for Transport the budget for the rural transport initiative in 2004; and the projected budget for 2005. [32394/04]
View answerTuesday, 7 December 2004
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Written answers
In keeping with the funding allocation for previous years, €3 million was provided for the rural transport initiative, RTI, in 2004. Following a full appraisal of the initiative, which was completed in July this year, I recently extended the scheme for a further two years, to end 2006. This is in line with the principal recommendation of the appraisal.
I have increased the RTI allocation for 2005 to €3.45 million. This represents an increase of 15% over the 2004 total or more than 12% when account is taken of inflation effects. This increase will result in an overall funding commitment of more than €12 million for the RTI to end 2005, which is all the more impressive when it is borne in mind that a total of €4.4 million was provided for it when the initiative was first proposed in the national development plan.
While I am happy to allocate substantially increased funding to the rural transport initiative, I am keen to ensure that we get value for these financial resources. Accordingly, my officials will work with Area Development Management Limited, which administers the scheme, on ways in which the impact of this funding might be maximised in the light of the recent independent evaluation of the programme.