Vol. 433 No. 2
46 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Finance if he will give details of the various European Community initiatives that he has implemented in the period from 1989 to 1993 inclusive; the scope and extent of funding for each programme; if these programmes will be continued in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I take it that the Deputy is referring to the Structural Funds initiatives. My Department is the lead Department in relation to the INTERREG programme. In the Irish context, the INTERREG programme's objectives were (a) to assist Border areas North and South to overcome the development problems associated with underdevelopment and peripherality, and to encourage the process of rural regeneration and community development and (b) to encourage cross-Border co-operation in order to maximise growth potential of the area, especially in the lead up to 1992.
A total of 76 MECU, in 1991 prices, was provided by the European Community. The programme has five sub-programmes: tourism, agriculture-fisheries-forestry, human resource development, environmental protection, and regional development. Taking account of the application of the annual deflators, the value of the Community contribution to the programme is now 82.157 MECU.
