Vol. 503 No. 3
505 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the funding which will be made available for the further development of air access to the south-west region in view of his recent allocation of £250,000 for the development of air access to the north-west region which will benefit the airports at Donegal, Sligo and Knock. [9679/99]
506 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation if funding will be made available to the Cork and Kerry tourism marketing initiative similar to the £250,000 spent for the implementation of the Donegal tourism marketing initiative. [9680/99]
507 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the grants he is making for the promotion of air access into the south-west and other regions similar to the grant of £500,000 for tourist promotion and air access into the north-west. [9681/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 505, 506 and 507 together.
The proposals referred to by the Deputy for tourism promotion and the development of air access into the north-west arose in direct response to the work of the Donegal Employment Initiative which was set up by the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to mitigate the impact of the scaling down of the Fruit of the Loom operation in Donegal.
As I recently announced, a £250,000 funding package is being made available through Bord Fáilte for 1999 and 2000 for incremental tourism marketing for County Donegal.
In addition, a specific cross-Border initiative is being developed by the Air Access Group in the north-west, in conjunction with Bord Fáilte, for the development of air access through the airports at Derry, Donegal, Sligo and Knock, for approval for funding of up to £250,000 under the EU co-funded North-South INTERREG programme.
However, it should be noted that resources have already been allocated under another EU co-funded programme, the Tourism Operational Programme, by the management board for marketing to stimulate air traffic growth to the south-west and other regions. Details of this support are contained in the annual reports of the management board, copies of which have been placed in the Library.
Additional funds are also being provided through Bord Fáilte to undertake a series of tourism marketing initiatives with a view to encouraging a more diversified spread of tourism benefits, including in the south-west. Some £920,000 of these funds have been allocated for regional development of tourism throughout the country and £300,000 to support the overseas marketing of small accommodation providers.
