asked the Minister for Finance the total amount of money allocated to Ireland from the EEC Regional Fund, for each of the years 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1979.
Written Answers. - EEC Regional Fund.
147.
As the reply is in the form of a tabular statement, I propose with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle to circulate it with the Official Report.
Following is the information sought:
|
(a) Commitments £m |
(b) Decommitments £m |
(c) Net commitments £m |
|
|
1975 |
8.30 |
8.30 |
|
|
1976 |
14.40 |
0.17 |
14.23 |
|
1977 |
12.63 |
0.23 |
12.40 |
|
1978 |
23.62 |
— |
23.62 |
|
1979 |
29.65 |
0.69 |
28.96 |
|
Total |
88.60 |
1.09 |
87.51 |
NOTE:
1. The European Regional Development Fund was established on 18 March 1975.
2. Allocations are given in the form of budgetary commitments. Where a project does not proceed as planned, the member State concerned can request decommitment of ERDF aid for that project: the sum decommitted can then be reallocated to another project in the same member State. Decommitments do not, therefore, involve any loss to the Exchequer.
3. The figures for 1979 cover the period January to November. Applications totalling a further £14.09 million in ERDF aid are at present being considered by the Commission.
148.
asked the Minister for Finance if he will give a detailed breakdown on a county by county basis of the apportioning of the 1979 EEC Regional Fund's moneys whether spent or committed.
Assistance from the European Regional Development Fund is not apportioned on a county by county basis.
I should like to stress that the amount of money available from the Fund is very small in relation to total public investment. In 1979 for example it has been estimated that receipts from the Fund will only amount to about 2.5 per cent of the total cost of the public capital programme. This means that of the very many eligible projects being undertaken, only a very small proportion can be submitted for ERDF aid.
Furthermore, Regional Fund assistance is given in the form of commitments, not in outright payments. Before any payment is received, the Exchequer must bear the cost of the investment itself and then seek a recoupment from the Regional Fund. In a sense, the Exchequer is providing the fund with interest-free loans. Accordingly, when my Department select projects in consultation with the Department of Economic Planning and Development while they try to achieve an overall balance both in regard to the geographical location of the projects and in regard to the categories of investment represented, it gives priority to projects where commitments can be converted to payments as quickly as possible.
149.
asked the Minister for Finance the plans for use of the £130 million of the EEC Regional Fund which will not be spent in 1979; and the reasons so much money has not been used.
I assume that the Deputy is referring to the estimated payment appropriation of 186 million European Units of Account which the Commission envisages may be carried forward from 1979 to 1980. Any money thus carried forward will be used in 1980 to cover payment claims submitted that year. There is therefore no question of the money not being used.
The uncertainty regarding the amount in payment appropriations required to meet payment claims in a particular financial year arises from the way in which the Regional Fund operates. Decisions to grant fund aid are expressed in multi-year commitments, but the time it takes for these commitments to be paid up depends on the timing of national expenditure on the aided projects. This in turn is dependent on many factors, some of which are not under the member States' control—for example, the time taken by industrialists in carrying out grant-aided investments, which will be influenced by market conditions.