Vol. 525 No. 1
159 Mr. S. Ryan asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government the plans he has to renew the urban and village improvement schemes which were hugely successful in the 1994 to 1999 period; if there are difficulties at EU level; and if it is the intention of the Government to fund the extension of the scheme. [23789/00]
Following on from the urban and village renewal grants scheme 1994-99, the National Development Plan 2000-06 provides for a continuation of a programme of urban and village renewal with investment of over £100 million over the seven year period. This investment is divided between the operational programmes for the Border, midland, western region and the south east region.
These new regional operational programmes have been submitted for approval to the EU. I am not aware of any difficulty in the negotiations on the operational programmes. Once these negotiations are concluded and approval to the operational programmes is received from the EU, allocations of funding will be made to local authorities as soon as possible.
