Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 May 2017
417. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to set down by county the amount of the €28 million allocated to the BMW region in 2016 that was drawn down. [20678/17]
View answer418. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to set down the amount spent in each sector of the €28 million allocated to the BMW region in 2016. [20679/17]
View answer419. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to set down the amount spent on administration of the €28 million allocated to the BMW region in 2016. [20680/17]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 417 to 419, inclusive, together.
It is assumed that the allocation referred to in the questions relates to the Designated Urban Centres Grant Scheme announced in January 2015 which is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and is administered in Ireland by the two Regional Operational Programme Managing Authorities: the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, formerly known as the Border, Midlands and Western (BMW) Region; and the Southern and Eastern Regional Assembly.
In this regard, an amount of €40 million in ERDF funding has been allocated for urban development projects in Ireland in the current EU Budget cycle period of 2014 to 2020, which has been apportioned as follows:
- €14m to the Northern and Western Region, and
- €26m to the Southern and Eastern Region.
In line with the ERDF requirements, the urban development projects approved for funding under the grant scheme are required to be at least match-funded from local authority own resources, thereby guaranteeing a minimum spend of €28 million on the approved projects in the Northern and Western Region in the period to 2020. However, local authorities in the Region have in fact committed to €38.5 million in match-funding from their own resources under the scheme, bringing the total investment on qualifying urban development projects in the Region to €52.5 million.
Information on the costs incurred by the Northern and Western Regional Assembly in administering the grant scheme in 2016 is not available in my Department; details of such administration costs may be sought directly from the Assembly itself.
None of the €14 million of ERDF funding in respect of qualifying projects in the Northern and Western Region was drawn down in 2016 but this may be explained by the fact that work on the projects has only recently been initiated or has not yet commenced.
