Thank you for the opportunity to raise this matter and the Minister of State for coming in to reply. Under the 1994-99 operational programme and the joint INTERREG programme, £19 million was allocated for tourism and angling measures. This was widely welcomed at the time and there were great expectations for the development of lakes and rivers which would attract visiting anglers to the constituency. The programme was announced in 1994 by the then Minister for Tourism and Trade, Deputy McCreevy. I, as chairman of the county council subcommittee on tourism, in consultation with fishermen and landowners, drew up and submitted a list of lakes for consideration for funding for the purpose of scrub clearance, erection of fishing platforms, access to lakes and car parking facilities. The programme which spans 1994 to 1999 has practically reached the half way stage and not one project in Monaghan has been approved. Some projects may have been approved in the Cavan-Leitrim area and on the canal.
On 17 October 1995 I tabled a parliamentary question, column 68 of the Official Report, asking the Minister for the Marine when operational programme funding would be made available for fisheries and lake development.
In his reply the then Minister for the Marine said:
I have already announced 29 projects, involving total expenditure of almost £2.8 million, under this measure. The main areas of targeted development include physical instream and bank development, stock management measures, the rehabilitation of depleted sea trout fisheries and the establishment of title to the fisheries ... The Fisheries Measures of the Joint Interreg Programme provide for investment of £2.5 million over the period 1994 to 1999 to encourage further cross-Border co-operation and development in fisheries. Projects eligible for funding under the Fisheries Measures will include research, conservation and development of inland fisheries.
While 29 projects have been announced under the Operational Programme for Tourism, no allocations have been announced under the INTERREG programme for cross-Border areas. It is time various Ministers ceased to talk about their concern for the peace initiative and cross-Border economic development. We have many visitors to that region on a weekly basis. It is time those programmes within their ministries were allowed to proceed. That is not too much to ask. In that area there are two dozen voluntary groups, all of which were involved in the development of their own areas with the hope of obtaining EU funding. Most of the projects related to tourism also had a cross-Border aspect. They were introduced in conjunction with their counterparts from across the Border. This is an area where specific funding is provided for cross-Border development and cross-Border projects. If this had been allowed to go ahead the audit committee of the EU would not come along next year and be critical of the Government and the authorities here, as they were in the North, that there was not cross-Border co-operation and cross-Border projects, that they stand alone on each side.
The Finn and Blackwater rivers form part of the Border and were targeted for restocking for the purposes of game and salmon fishing. That type of development requires patience. Members of voluntary organisations experience many problems, especially meeting in cold halls on winter nights in an effort to draw up programmes for their region in the hope of securing funds. It is not acceptable that since 1994 we have not received one penny. It is making a mockery of the concern expressed by Ministers about the peace initiative on a continuing basis not to assist in every way. I ask that those projects be approved and allowed to proceed.
