Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 24 Feb 1998

Vol. 487 No. 6

Written Answers - Bio-mass Project.

John Bruton

Ceist:

60 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Public Enterprise when a decision will be made on whether she should decommission nine million ecu of EU Structural Funds that have been allocated for a bio-mass project at Blanchardstown further to Parliamentary Question No. 48 of 19 November 1997; the criteria she will use in deciding whether these funds should be decommissioned; if she will make available publicly the correspondence, if any, she has had with the Commission on the matter; and if she will make a statement on the policy considerations underlying this decision. [22676/97]

Emmet Stagg

Ceist:

129 Mr. Stagg asked the Minister for Public Enterprise if DG 16 of the European Commission has approved the socio-economic cost benefits analysis of the waste to energy conversion plant at Coormenoy, Ballycoolin, County Dublin; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4879/98]

Minister of State at the Department of Public Enterprise (Mr. Jacob)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 60 and 129 together.

I refer the Deputies to Questions Nos. 87 of 17 December 1977; 40, 57 and 159 of 12 November 1997; and 21 of 1 October 1997.

The waste to energy project referred to by the Deputy was submitted to the European Commission for European Regional Development Fund capital support and the correspondence between my Department and the European Commission includes project specific confidential information which I do not intend to make public at this time.

The Commission has advised that it is still considering my Department's response to questions raised by it on the socio-economic cost benefit analysis and that it will respond as soon as possible. The monitoring committee for the Economic Infrastructure Operational Programme will consider the matter of CSF funding at its meeting on 30 March next in the light of the Commission's response.