I propose to take Questions Nos. 246, 247, 248 and 249 together.
My Department is the lead Department for the Transport and Environmental Services Operational Programmes, although other Departments are responsible for certain measures assisted under these OPs. The urban and village renewal sub-programme of the Local Urban and Rural Development OP also comes within the remit of my Department.
Details of the different measures to be assisted, including the financing arrangements and implementing agencies, are set out in the various OPs, copies of which are available in the Oireachtas Library. In so far as measures for which my Department is responsible are concerned, EU aid receipts are remitted directly to the Exchequer, with the exception of small amounts of FEOGA aid which are brought to account as appropriations-in-aid under my Department's Vote.
In general, progress on the measures for which my Department is responsible is satisfactory. With the exception of the waste management sub-programme under the Environmental Services OP, any underspend which has occurred has been minor in the context of overall OP spending, and should be made good over the remainder of the CSF period. The Mid-Term Review of the Community Support Framework 1994-99 (CSF) recommended the re-allocation of 8 mecu of aid from the waste management sub-programme of the environmental services OP and the addition of aid of 26 mecu to the national roads programme, and this has been taken into account in formulating my Department's Estimates for 1998 and the relevant "no policy change" projection for 1999. Funding for the waste management sub-programme was reduced due to the fact that arrangements to mobilise this sub-programme took longer than originally anticipated. The sub-programme focused on new actions, for which national legislation and policy were being developed when the OP was approved, and which required consultation with or approval from the EU Commission.