Beverley Flynn (Mayo, Independent)
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Question 135: To ask the Minister for Finance the underspend in the BMW region to date in 2005 under the National Development Plan 2000-2006; the breakdown of budgeted and actual expenditure applying to each of the specific programmes under the plan; his plans to address the underspend in each programme; and the projected final outturn. [31078/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Table 1 sets out the indicative expenditure profiles and the estimated expenditure incurred under each operational programme in the BMW region. Table 2 sets out the indicative expenditure profiles and estimated expenditure by the Exchequer for the same period in the BMW region for each operational programme. The expenditure data presented in the tables relate to the period January 2000 to the end of June 2005. These are the latest data reported to the operational programme monitoring committees. The 2005 annual expenditure profiles have been reduced by half in calculating the profile but the Deputy will be aware that significant expenditure, particularly Exchequer expenditure, takes place in the latter half of the year. The position will become clearer when data are available for the full calendaryear.

Profiles and Expenditure data include all NDP sources of funding: Exchequer, EU andprivate.

The vast bulk of NDP spending is financed by the Exchequer. Table 2 sets out the position at end the of June 2005 in regard to Exchequer expenditure.

As the Deputy will note from the data presented in table 2, the Exchequer contribution to the key economic and social infrastructure operational programme, ESIOP, is very near to profile. Performance on the employment and human resource operational programmes, EHROP, is also on course.

The performance of the productive sector and the regional operational programme remains disappointing due a number of factors already outlined in previous replies. These range from poor demand for a number of schemes, particularly in the agricultural sector and research and development, to initial over profiling of expenditure in the region, and poorer than expected private sector involvement. This underspend is also a feature in the southern and eastern region.

As regards final outturn, I expect the ESIOP and EHROP to be close to target but the productive sector and regional programme will be below profile for the reasons set out above.