Vol. 483 No. 5
63 Mr. Noonan asked the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands where EU regional and cohesion aid is centred in her Department; if she has satisfied herself that it accurately targets the disadvantaged social groups in the country; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20621/97]
European regional funding within my Department is expended under various programmes and the greater part of it is devoted to national/regional cultural activities, national monuments and historic properties, waterways and national parks and wildlife facilities. The rationale for, and the nature of, this funding is outlined in subprogramme 1 of the Operational Programme for Tourism 1994-99 for Natural/Cultural Tourism. Within this subprogramme the cultural development incentives scheme has, inter alia, made it possible to target social groups living in areas where up to now facilities for cultural activities were inadequate or non-existent. However, I should emphasise that the primary purpose of the subprogramme is to generate economic benefit to the economy by making our rich store of cultural and heritage attractions more accessible and attractive to overseas tourists. This is the basis on which European Regional Development Funding assistance was obtained. It is not therefore a specific mechanisn for targeting disadvantaged social groups.
In 1994, the European Commission approved a project under the Cohesion Fund aimed at conserving and restoring a number of Irish raised bogs. The total cost of this is 2.5 million ECU, of which 85 per cent is met by the EU. The project is due to be completed in 1998.
