asked the Minister for Agriculture if he is aware that only IR£20 million has been spent on the western development package; and if he proposes any alteration to the scheme which could result in a more efficient utilisation of the funds within the proposed period.
Ceisteann—Questions. Oral Answers. - Western Development Package.
4.
Apart from aid for projects related to the processing and marketing of agricultural products, the total expenditure to 30 September 1985 under the western package is about £69 million.
The package operates by way of a programme approved by the EC Commission and this programme is subject to review at intervals of four years. The first such review is at present under way and an examination is being made of the options available for making the package a more effective instrument for the stimulation of agricultural development in the west.
Would the Minister agree that that scheme which was supposed to have been £30 million per year has been a flop and that under some of the headings there has been practically no takeup? Would he agree also that the conditions under which the scheme operated were such as to render it practically impossible for people to qualify?
As the Deputy will be aware, certain restrictions were imposed on the package at the time but there are certain headings under which we are ahead of schedule. Though we are only four years on, the greater part of the ten year allocation for rural water supplies has been taken up. I take it that the Deputy is referring to such items as forestry in respect of which less than £1 million of the £18 million earmarked has been taken up. It is against that background that the matter is being reviewed currently. The review is at a very advanced stage and we hope that some of the problems can be rectified as far as possible from an Irish point of view.
Would the Minister not agree that it was ridiculous so far as a severely handicapped area was concerned to impose the kind of restrictions that were imposed regarding qualification for the scheme? Is it not time that those restrictions were lifted?
Deputy MacSharry.
Would the Minister not consider——
I have called Deputy MacSharry. Deputies should heed the Chair.
——that in regard to forestry he should have the whole matter reviewed so that the scheme could be extended beyond the western package to include areas outside the 12 counties to which the scheme relates?
Matters relating to forestry are the responsibility of another Minister but I assume that in the context of the package, forestry is one of the areas being considered.
I cannot let pass what has happened. Deputies should not defy the Chair. The Chair cannot permit that sort of conduct.
It was not my intention to be derogatory or insulting towards the Chair.
But the Deputy continued regardless of what the Chair said.
The Minister tells us that the review is almost completed but can he inform us whether there is included in that review any new measures or are only the existing measures included? Will the Minister make every effort to ensure that in particular the calf and beef schemes of the package are implemented?
I cannot prejudge the outcome of the deliberations in Brussels. I can only tell the Deputy that I have taken great care to consider the weak points of the scheme and we hope that many of the matters to which the Deputy has referred will be put right in the new package.
This must be a final supplementary.
(Limerick West): Can the Minister guarantee that there will be Exchequer funds to finance the scheme on the completion of the review and the negotiations?
I have no doubt that once the programme has been accepted, the Government will not be found wanting.
(Limerick West): In other words, the answer is yes.
Regarding the Minister's statement that after only four years we have spent the greater part of the allocation in respect of group water schemes, can he confirm that grants will be available for such schemes in the west for a further six years?
I do not wish to prejudge the outcome of anything that might be under review.
Can the Minister confirm whether the money will be available.
As the Deputy is well aware, the matter is not as simple as that.
The matter relates to another Minister. The Minister of State made only a passing reference to these schemes.
But a passing question should elicit some information. There is no commitment.