Vol. 560 No. 1
951 Mr. O'Dowd asked the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the position regarding the proposed development of Downings Harbour, County Donegal, in view of the announcement that the Government was to give Donegal County Council ?631,000 for completion of detailed engineering design on the new harbour, and that ?380,000 was committed to Donegal County Council by the Government to commence the tender process for engineering design. [1004/03]
No funding has been sanctioned from my Department for the development of Downings harbour, although assistance of £23,380 was provided to Donegal County Council in 2001 towards the employment of consultants to carry out a feasibility study in this regard. From the investigations carried out it appears that the estimated cost of the harbour development could be as high as €10.2 million, depending on the particular development option chosen. My Department has informed Donegal County Council that funding estimated at some €630,000 for planning work on the project could not be considered until the funding for the overall project has been secured by the council. Expenditure of the order envisaged in regard to the majority of the options identified by the feasibility study would not come within the normal parameters of my Department's scheme for strategic Gaeltacht harbours. The Deputy should also be aware that my Department has recently provided assistance for works to three strategic Gaeltacht harbours in Donegal – Baile Fuar Uisce, €1,079,500, Teileann, €802,930, and Bun Beag, €1,244,500.
