Vol. 501 No. 4
14 Mr. Ferris asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the staff and finance which will be available to Comhar in 1999; the work he expects it will carry out in 1999; the way in which it will contribute to sustainable development; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6160/99]
The 1999 allocation to Comhar within my Department's Vote is £180,000. This does not include the costs of three staff from my Department who have been assigned to provide a secretariat for Comhar. Those costs will be met from my Department's administrative budget.
It is a matter for Comhar to determine its own work programme, within its overall terms of reference, and it must inform Government, through me, of that programme of work within three months of its establishment.
Comhar's overall terms of reference are to advance the national agenda for sustainable development, to evaluate progress in this regard, to assist in devising suitable mechanisms and advising on their implementation, and to contribute to the formation of a national consensus in these regards.
