Vol. 551 No. 4
101 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Rural Development the projects which will be funded through the CLÁR programme in County Sligo; the discussions which have taken place; when the funding will be put in place; the amount of funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10705/02]
From October to mid-December 2001 a public consultation process was organised on the CLÁR programme involving meetings with interests – local authority management and the county development boards – in the selected areas, followed by public meetings. In this way, the needs of the communities concerned were identified and it was established how they could benefit most from the programme. Priority investments, as identified by the communities, cover infrastructure, social and community services. Several meetings have also taken place to date with county councils' officials on the various strands of the programme.
In tandem with the public consultation process, a meeting of the interdepartmental committee of all relevant Departments was organised and subsequent bilateral meetings took place with these Departments and some State agencies.
CLÁR has a fund of €25.4 million for 2002-2003 and this expenditure will reflect the priorities identified in the selected areas. The priorities are being dealt with in three modules and there has been a roll out of funding packages agreed under Module 1: roads, water and sewerage with other funding packages and allocations to be announced very shortly.
There are ongoing discussions with other Departments and State agencies on programmes under module 2 – industry, enterprise and tourism – and module 3 – health, education and community. However, no decision will be made on categories of projects to be funded under CLÁR without the prior approval of the mainline Department(s). It is hoped to make announcements on the roll out of further programmes in the next few weeks.
Any funding allocated under CLÁR is entirely contingent on the relevant county council and county development board actively participating in the agreed programmes. The level of funding to each county with a CLÁR area will reflect the uptake of the various schemes by each county council.
Under a special non-national roads co-funded package agreed with the Department of the Environment and Local Government, Sligo County Council has been allocated a sum of €260,000 for special roads projects of strategic importance in CLÁR areas. A further sum of €40,000 will be allocated to Sligo County Council under a co-funded package agreed with Coillte for access forestry roads of strategic importance in CLÁR areas.
