Vol. 444 No. 6
127 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment the method of permanent funding of the recently established regional development authorities; and the sanctions that will apply to local authorities who do not contribute properly to the authority on which they are represented.
Regional authorities are to be found primarily by financial contributions from the constituent county councils and county borough corporations. Grants of 50 per cent towards these contributions are being paid by my Department in the initial year, and grants from the Minister for Finance will be payable towards certain costs arising in relation to the monitoring, etc. of EU co-financed programmes. While there are no specific sanctions in the matter, I expect any initial difficulties which may have arisen in relation to payment of the local authorities' contributions to be resolved quickly.
