Vol. 561 No. 1
308 Mr. Ferris asked the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources if he will make a statement on the failure to make available aquaculture grants for which applications had to be in before the end of July 2002; the reason there has been such a long delay; and the reason the function of adjudication on these grant applications was removed from BIM and given to the two regional assemblies. [3269/03]
To date, grant aid in excess of €12 million has been approved under two previous rounds of decisions under the FIFG co-financed aquaculture measure of the regional operational programmes. Applications in respect of a third tranche of funding under the measure are currently with An Bord Iascaigh Mhara and Údarás na Gaeltachta following a public call for projects. Such projects are assessed and prioritised by the agencies. Decisions on grant aid are made by the aquaculture selection committee for the Border, midlands and western region or the aquaculture selection committee for the southern and eastern region, as appropriate. These procedures were put in place in 2000 in the context of ensuring that procedures for approval of projects are fair, unbiased and take account of regional development priorities.
The Department is currently finalising a review of existing commitments to determine the extent to which further approvals of projects can be made under a third tranche of awards taking account of funding available.
Question No. 309 answered with Question No. 307.
