asked the Minister for Finance the total amount received from the EEC Regional Fund in each of the past five years; the details of the projects for which these moneys were received; and the contribution to each of these projects from the Irish Government.
Written Answers. - EEC Regional Fund Projects.
146.
The European Regional Development Fund was established in March 1975. Ireland's receipts from the fund in each year since then have been as follows:
1975: £1,757,568, 1976: £8,541,681, 1977: £8,496,101, 1978: £11,103,552.
With regard to the details of the projects for which fund assistance has been made available, the Deputy will find a list of the 267 projects approved for fund assistance up to the end of 1977 in my reply (Vol. 307, Cols. 2499-2508) to a parliamentary question by Deputy Enright on 29 June 1978. To complete the details of projects approved for fund assistance up to the end of 1978, I attach a list of the 121 projects approved for assistance in 1978.
It is not feasible in the case of the vast majority of individual projects to give a breakdown of the cost between the national contribution and the fund contribution. I have already given the reasons why this is so in my reply to the question by Deputy Enright referred to above. However, the following tabular statement sets out the total national contribution to fund-assisted projects on an annual basis since 1975:
|
Year |
Overall cost of Projects Approved for Fund Assistance* |
Regional Fund Contribution** |
National Contribution† |
|
£ million |
£ million |
£ million |
|
|
1975 |
21.1 |
8.3 |
12.8 |
|
1976 |
44.5 |
14.4 |
30.1 |
|
1977 |
35.9 |
12.6 |
23.3 |
|
1978 |
71.0 |
23.6 |
47.4 |
* The amounts shown in each year refer to the total multiannual expenditure on the projects approved for fund assistance in that year. (In the case of industrial projects, the amounts refer to expenditure on industrial grants).
** These figures show the overall fund contribution committed in respect of the multiannual expenditure on the projects approved for assistance in each year. However, there is a time lag between commitment of the contribution and actual payments (details of which are given above) because payments are only made pari passu with national expenditure on projects.
† These amounts represent the differences between the overall cost of the projects and the Regional Fund contribution. (The fund contribution is (i) a maximum of 30 per cent of the cost in the case of infrastructure projects and (ii) either 50 per cent of State aid or 20 per cent of the investment cost, whichever is the lesser, in the case of industrial projects). In practice, the overall cost is met in the first instance by the national authorities and the fund contribution is then recouped by the Government. Under existing arrangements, the fund recoupment is not paid to the authorities or investors concerned but is applied to the financing of increases in the Public Capital Programme.