Vol. 530 No. 6
385 Dr. O'Hanlon asked the Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation the schemes available through his Department and agencies under the aegis of his Department for tourism; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4804/01]
I have secured in excess of £350 million for tourism measures under the national development plan. As tourism will not have a dedicated operational programme, these moneys will be spread across a number of them – Productive Sector Operational Programme, £150 million for tourism marketing, Employment and Human Resources Development Operational Programme, just over £100 million for tourism training, and regional operational programmes for the BMW and S & E regions, £100 million for tourism product development.
It is proposed that the tourism marketing sub-programme will consist of two measures, a niche marketing measure and a destination marketing measure. Decisions as to the allocation of funding under this subprogramme will be a matter for Bord Fáilte or Tourism Ireland Limited as appropriate.
Tourism training is dealt with under the Employment and Human Resources Operational Programme which will have three training measures to be implemented by CERT, including sectoral entry training for school leavers, sectoral entry training for persons who wish to re-enter the workforce and ongoing sectoral training for persons employed in the tourism industry.
Support for tourism product development will be made available under the tourism measure within the two regional operational programmes. Bord Fáilte will be responsible for the implementation of three sub-measures, major attractions and clusters, special interest activities and tourism and the environment. Detailed operational guidelines for the tourism measure are being prepared by Bord Fáilte in consultation with my Department. The publication of these guidelines will be followed by a public call for tourism project proposals to be assessed by Bord Fáilte and approved under an independent product management board mechanism.
It should be noted that two of the tourism product development sub-measures require State aids clearance by the European Commission and relevant negotiations have commenced.
Questions Nos. 386 and 387 withdrawn.
