Vol. 436 No. 1
8 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Finance the reason the south-east region is to get less than any other region of the sums being allocated under the terms of the National Development Plan, 1994-1999, which has been submitted to the European Commission.
In drawing up the National Development Plan, the Government was determined to ensure that the development strategy adopted would promote balanced regional development and the Government is satisfied that the strategy set out in the plan will achieve this. The plan shows that a very substantial amount of money, £1.5 billion, will be spent in the south-east sub-region. This will play a significant role in promoting the development of the sub-region. In addition many of the expenditures outside the sub-region will also benefit the area, such as transport developments leading to and from the sub-region.
The distribution of moneys is anything but balanced. While 11 per cent of the population live in the South East region it receives only 9 per cent of the allocated Structural Funds. It was said that Ireland stops at Newland's Cross, now it may stop a little further out, at Naas, but Waterford, Kilkenny, Clonmel——
Or Wexford.
——or Dungarvan are not taken into account. Not one penny has been allocated for improving the main road to Waterford, the N9, or the main road to Kilkenny, the N10. An amount of £120 million has been allocated for improvements to the Sligo road and a greater amount for the Limerick road. Would the Minister regard that as a balanced position? Will she indicate why the south-east region has not received a fair allocation of the Structural Funds?
The Structural Funds are allocated on the basis of programmes, not on the basis of regions. The funds are allocated under the different headings of direct investment in job creation in the industrial area. The figures in the plan in relation to particular sub-regions on the industry side are indicative of that. For example, in the sphere of word processing, the Waterford area has secured the major Louisiana Pacific oriented strand board plant and, therefore Waterford will be in a position——
It was good that Michael Ferris was not representing us.
——to draw down moneys under the inward investment section of the Structural Funds. Regarding the industry programme, the allocation made depends on the products involved. That must be indicative of the share of Structural Funds among different regions. Waterford, or the south-east region generally, will be in a position to draw moneys under the industries programme if it can develop industrial projects on the indigenous industry side or attract inward investment.
The headage payments, which are part of the FEOGA funds and also part of the Structural Funds, affect the nominal share of funds for the south-east region. If headage payments were classified under the FEOGA funds which are not part of the Structural Funds, the figures would be somewhat different. The type of farming carried out in the south-east does not qualify for headage payments to the same extent as that carried out in areas of the west and north-west and that distorts the nominal figures. I would not accept that £1.5 billion is a nominal sum. In the past the Government invested substantial money in the development of the Bellview terminal in Waterford, the benefits of which will come on stream for the south-east region. At present we are investing in the Arklow by-pass which will benefit those travelling on the coast road to Wexford and Waterford through New Ross. I travelled that road yesterday to meet people in Waterford to discuss this issue. I would not accept that the south-east is being ignored. On the basis of the quality of the proposals put forward by the south-east, the region will be able to draw down a fair share of Structural Funds.
The Minister referred to the advent of the Louisiana Pacific industry, a major timber industry and the development of the Bellview port, but nothing has been done to improve the infrastructure to serve the port and the industries. A proper road to Waterford and a second bridge over the River Suir is needed. Not one shilling has been allocated in the plan for such development. Does the Minister appreciate that there will be massive bottlenecks on the bridge in Waterford and on the approach routes to the city?
The roads programme outlined in the National Plan is currently being examined by my colleagues, the Minister for Transport and Tourism and the Minister for the Environment. They are considering the detail of how funding will be allocated. We were able to illustrate some of the routes that will be covered in the plan. There will be additional expenditure in relation to some projects which have not yet been identified or subjected to the cost benefit analysis. Work on routes outside the south east region will also benefit that region. For example, at present money is being spent on the Kilcullen link road which is outside the region, but is on the Dublin to the south east route. The roads programme has been decided on the basis of work carried out during the last number of years by the then An Foras Forbartha, now the Environmental Research Unit of the Department of the Environment. It carried out a series of cost benefit studies on the national primary and secondary routes and identified the major bottleneck areas in the country. We are engaged in a programme through which it is intended that by the year 2005 those bottlenecks will be eliminated thereby ensuring that traffic can travel on the national primary routes at a speed of 50 to 55 miles per hour. That programme is proceeding at an even pace. The projects which will receive priority under the Structural Funds are what may be termed "the next worst bottleneck areas" which have scored highest on the cost benefit indicators. In the course of that programme it is hoped that the Waterford area and other areas of the south-east region will be well served by the development of modern infrastructure including a roads system.
I am interested in the south-east region and the moneys expended in respect of it. What the Minister has said in regard to what is happening in that region is quite inaccurate; it is waffle. I understood that the shortest distance between two points was a straight line and not a loop as is the case in regard to the road lines signalled in the National Development Plan. It is proposed that the Waterford to Dublin road will go through County Wexford through Enniscorthy. I would have thought that the N9——
It will be 20 miles longer.
Let us proceed by way of relevant brief succinct supplementary questions.
Where is the submission of the sub-regional review group for the south-east is there any indication that it is desired that the main route from Waterford to Dublin should go through Enniscorthy rather than through Kilkenny?
I suggest that if Deputy Hogan wishes to raise a matter in relation to road planning he should table a question to the Minister for the Environment who is responsible for deciding on the priorities in the overall road programme and the detailed routes to be followed. The Minister has been assisted in this regard by comprehensive cost benefit studies of different routes which have been carried out in respect of programmes under the Structural Funds.
I share the Deputy's concern about the manner in which the south-east region has been shortchanged. Will the Minister justify why the Rosslare-Dublin rail link has not been subject to EC co-financing while virtually every other rail link from Dublin to other areas is so financed? A figure of £5.5 million has been allocated for coastal erosion. The protection scheme in Rosslare for which there has been a wait of 20 years for the go ahead could use all that money. Will the Minister give a commitment that Rosslare will be the primary project for that coastal protection expenditure?
Deputies are moving from the general to the specific. I would prefer if the matters raised were dealt with by way of separate question.
They are in the national interest.
The allocations in the National Development Plan were based on programmes. The Department of Finance allocated moneys to the different programmes identified in the plan. Such programmes include, for example, the areas of human resources, the industries programme, the national resources programme, the transport programme and the local development programme. Within these programmes the Departments, as experts in these fields, draw up, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity, detailed proposals as to how the money will be spent. The Department of the Marine is examining the provision for coastal erosion and will determine its priorities within that provision. Similarly, the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications, an expert in the transport area, decides on funding of the rail service. The plan provides for the highest allocation ever made to public transport. It is very much an environmentally and rail friendly plan. The Department of Transport, Energy and Communications has identified specific road projects for funding. If Deputy Yates wishes to pursue the detail of the choices being made in these areas he should table questions to the Department of of the Marine and the Department of Transport, Energy and Communications.
(Carlow-Kilkenny): In the Minister's long reply to questions she was not asked, she outlined the importance of the Arklow road and the Kilcullen bypass, but Carlow is land-locked. How will goods be transported to Waterford harbour if, as has been pointed out, the road from Carlow to Waterford is ignored? The Arklow road and the Kilcullen bypass are of little use if the condition of the road between Carlow and Waterford is not improved?
Deputies are raising questions which are the responsibility of another Minister.
As the Minister spoke a lot about bottlenecks, I put it to her that a 70 mile long bottleneck is being created on the road from Kilcullen to Waterford, which is supposed to be a main road but is the worst in the country. Will the Minister explain why she took no cognisance of the sub-regional review group's request for financial support for the N9 while at the same time she is giving a huge amount of money for a road for which money was not requested, the road from Enniscorthy to Moate in County Westmeath? If the coast road from Waterford to Dublin via Arklow is to be developed, what will the position be with regard to the 18 mile stretch of road from New Ross to Enniscorthy, which is merely a by-road at present?
It should be upgraded.
These are specific matters which are worthy of separate questions.
These matters are worthy of separate questions to the Minister for the Environment who has responsibility for road planning.
The Minister should answer the question. She has been running around the country for the last year and she should at least know what is going on.
When there is good news the Minister takes credit for it but when there is bad news she is not able to take the flak.
The Deputy has asked questions; let us now hear the answer.
I met the sub-regional review groups and considered their reports. The cost of meeting all the demands that came through these channels and the various Departments would be £28 billion. Even if Jacques Delors gave us the money as a Christmas present it would not be possible to meet all the demands.
He left the Minister in the lurch.
Choices have to be made between programmes and we must consider evaluations, cost benefit studies and the merits of the proposals. The roads programme is probably the programme on which the greatest amount of evaluation and study was carried out before choosing the projects to which money will be allocated.
Why will the Minister not publish those?
If the Deputies opposite have particular points to make I suggest they table questions to the Minister for the Environment who has responsibility for the national road network.
A Cheann Comhairle——
Order, I have dwelt over-long on this question.
I wish to ask one supplementary question.
I wish to ask one question.
I will hear two very brief questions, but we cannot debate this matter today.
I appreciate that. The Minister gave substantial replies to queries about funds and said that she took into consideration the requests from review groups. However, there was no mention of competition. Was there competition for funds between the south-west, west and mid-west, or was there a blanket decision by the Minister and the Department? Will the Minister accept total responsibility for this plan and confirm that she made the decision in the case of each programme?
As I already explained, the national plan was drawn up on the basis of national programmes and a global figure was decided for industry. The regional share-out of the industry programme will depend on the regional distribution of projects eligible for funding. Under the programme for transport, the division of the transport budget was decided between national primary routes, national secondary routes and link roads and, at the request of this House, the other House and the sub-regional review bodies, substantial investment was made in the country road network. The details of the programmes are matters for the Minister for the Environment.
A decision was also made on a national programme for agriculture. Again the regional distribution of funding in this area depends on the number of farms eligible for funding. The type of farming carried out in the south-east is such that fewer farmers are eligible for headage payments in that area.
In relation to sanitary services, a budget was specified, particularly in terms of the Cohesion Fund. The Minister for the Environment has responsibility for deciding the detailed projects in that area in line with the criteria laid down by Brussels. Money is allocated on the basis of individual decisions in the various Departments and the decision is not made on a specific regional share-out. The Department of Finance has responsibility for the overall distribution between programmes rather than between regions.
The Minister spoke at length about programmes and the different factors that influence the allocation of funding. When speaking about road transportation I am amazed the Minister did not mention road safety. I raise this matter because south Tipperary has the highest incidence of road traffic accidents in the country.
This is a deviation from the subject matter of the question. I am anxious to assist the Deputy but the matter she is raising is irrelevant to the question before us.
However, no funding has been allocated for the Clonmel-Tipperary road and the Cashel-Tipperary road, which are our only access routes. Will the Minister explain why that factor was not included in the decision-making process?
I want to help the Deputy, but the matters raised by her are specific and worthy of other questions.
