Michael D. Higgins
Ceist:55 Mr. M. Higgins asked the Minister for Tourism and Transport if Structural Funds for tourism available from the EC will include the provision and repair of basic infrastructure such as roads and ports.
Written Answers. - EC Structural Funds.
Structural Fund assistance for developing transport infrastructure, including roads and ports, will be provided for in a separate operational programme for roads and other transport infrastructure. Accordingly there is no money provided in the tourism operational programme for works of this nature. However, the Community Support Framework, in recognition of the importance of infrastructural support for tourism development, included the following provision:
If the Monitoring Committee of the Tourism Operational Programme so requests, resources will be transferred from the second sub-programme in the peripherality programme (up to a limit of 10 million ECU) or from the sanitary and other local services programme (up to a limit of 5 million ECU), as appropriate, to aid infrastructure projects (roads, sanitary and other local services) which are necessary to achieve the full potential benefits of other measures co-financed under the programme for tourism development and which are not being carried out under those programmes.
The practical implementation of this provision in relation to roads and ports will be a matter for the two committees who will be monitoring the operational programmes for tourism and for roads and other transport infrastructure respectively. This matter will be settled as soon as the latter programme which is under discussion at present with the Commission is finalised.