Vol. 471 No. 7
353 Dr. O'Hanlon asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade the EU funding, if any, which has been made available in respect of the Border region; if he has satisfied himself that there is equity throughout the region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22256/96]
The Deputy will be aware that, under the mechanism of the interdepartmental policy committee on local development, the Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Mr. Carey, chaired a task force on the funding arrangements in the Border region. The report of the task force which was presented to the Dáil on 24 October 1996, sets out details of the general EU funding available in the Border region, including the level of funds allocated to tourism development under the Operational Programme for Tourism, the Ireland-Northern Ireland INTERREG Programme and the International Fund for Ireland.
Tourism projects in the Border region can avail of EU funding from a variety of sources. Support for tourism initiatives is available, on a national basis, from the Operational Programme for Tourism, 1994-99, the programme for agriculture, rural development and forestry which has an agritourism scheme, the Leader II programme and the local urban and rural development programme. Other sources, which are available to the Border region alone, include the Ireland-Northern Ireland INTERREG II Programme, the International Fund for Ireland and the special support Programme for Peace and Reconciliation.
In relation to trade, neither the Department nor its agency, An Bord Tráchtála administer any EU funded programmes which are devoted exclusively to the Border region. However, ABT, the implementing agency for the marketing sub-programme of the Operational Programme for Industrial Development, 1994-99, are involved in trade promotion in the region, as they are in the country as a whole. They offer marketing services, such as workshops and seminars which specifically focus on the Border area and work closely with the IDB and LEDU in many joint projects with a cross-Border dimension.
Projects are selected for grant assistance on the basis of their individual merits and their contribution to the stated aims of the individual programmes and measures concerned rather than on the basis of geographical spread.
