Vol. 475 No. 8
41 Dr. Moffatt asked the Minister for Tourism and Trade the number of meetings of the national monitoring committee on funding to tourism-related products which have been held; the date of the most recent meeting; and the outcome of this meeting. [6034/97]
Paragraph 10.14 of the Operational Programme for Tourism 1994-1999 provides that a national monitoring committee be established to have general responsibility for ensuring the smooth implementation of the programme in pursuit of the objectives set, including the right to adjust sub-programme budgets. The committee, which normally meets twice a year, is chaired by my Department.
The tourism OP committee is comprised of representatives from the European Commission, DGV, XI and XVI, the European Investment Bank, the Irish Tourism Industry Federation (ITIC), the Irish Business Employers Confederation (IBEC), the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU), the Irish Farmers Association (IFA), Bord Fáilte Éireann, Shannon Development, CERT, the Central Fisheries Board, a regional authority and the Departments of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, including the Office of Public Works, Education, Environment, Finance, the Marine, the Taoiseach and my own Department. To date, five meetings of the national monitoring committee have taken place i.e. on 26 April 1995, 26 October 1995, 17 April 1996, 24 October 1996 and 28 February 1997.
