Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 279: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the amount of funding allocated to the mid-east and other regions for the years 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2004 from his Department; the payment this represented per head of population; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37003/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The mid-east region comprises counties Kildare, Meath and Wicklow. The funding for capital purposes allocated by my Department to the mid-east region, together with allocations to the remainder of the southern and eastern region and the Border, midlands and western, BMW, region for the years 2000 to 2004 is set out in the following table:

These allocations are for the provision of the following services: housing, water and waste-water services, waste management, non-national roads, urban and village renewal and habitats and heritage conservation.

Based on population information supplied by the Central Statistics Office, these allocations can be represented on a per capita basis as follows:

It should be noted that the remainder of the southern and eastern region includes all but one of the country's major cities and that major expenditure on housing and urban regeneration has been concentrated in Dublin and Cork. In addition, it should be noted that in the early years of the national development plan priority was given to investment in major water services projects in Dublin, Cork and Limerick.

However, with the completion of major projects in the major urban areas, per capita expenditure on water services has increased in the mid-east region in recent years compared to the rest of the southern and eastern region. Investment by my Department on non-national roads throughout the years in question, expressed in per capita terms, indicates the mid-east region is ahead of the rest of the southern and eastern region. Per capita benefit is higher in the BMW region but it should be borne in mind that the BMW region, which consists of 47% of the land area, accounts for just 27% of the national population.