Jerry Cowley (Mayo, Independent)
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Question 100: To ask the Minister for Finance his views on whether there is consistent neglect by the Government of the Ballina and north Mayo region and that Ballina remains a notorious employment black-spot area; his further views on whether investment in infrastructure is needed in the western area of the country; if he will ensure that the necessary infrastructure investment takes place in Ballina and Mayo by addressing the underspend and establish a tax incentive area in Ballina and surrounding areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7772/06]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I cannot agree with the Deputy that north Mayo is being neglected by the Government. However, I do recognise that the area has suffered the closure of a number of key employers over the past 18 months and efforts by the Government to attract new job opportunities have proved difficult. My colleague, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Micheál Martin, has already outlined to the House the efforts he, his Department and the development agencies are making to deal with this difficult situation.

The latest data reported to my Department indicates that some €750 million has been spent in County Mayo under the NDP since 2000. Expenditure on housing, transport and environmental infrastructure alone has amounted to some €490 million. The Deputy will agree that this is a significant level of investment. Ambitious plans have been set for further investment in transport infrastructure under Transport 21. Transport 21 sets out targeted improvements to be made in a number of national secondary routes including the important N59 costal road which runs from Sligo through north Mayo on through Westport and into Galway city. Recently completed projects in north Mayo include phase 1 of the N26 from Ballina to Bohola with a further 18 km currently being planned by the NRA. Work on the important N5 Charlestown bypass has begun and is due for completion in 2008. Further development of the N5 will see 14 km of roadway being constructed which will bypass the town of Ballaghaderreen. In addition, a further 17 km of the N5 from Westport to Castlebar will be upgraded following completion of planning for the project. When completed, these projects will further complement the 16 km of the N17 between Knock and Claremorris which was completed in 2002 and the plans by the NRA for upgrading a further 25 km of this route from Charlestown to Collooney.

The Deputy will be aware that investments under the NDP are delivered through a number of operational programmes which are directly managed and implemented by Departments, the regional assemblies or other agencies. The responsibility of my Department is to ensure that resources are made available to meet the Government's objectives and to secure full drawdown of Ireland's allocation of Structural Funds. Departments have been asked to ensure that the investment objectives for the BMW region are prioritised. I expect that the level of planned Exchequer expenditure under the NDP will be close to target at the end of the programming period.

With respect to tax incentive schemes which come under my responsibility, I would draw the Deputy's attention to the fact that Ballina was among the 42 towns and cities that had integrated areas designated for tax relief under the 1999 urban renewal scheme, while Belmullet, Charlestown and Foxford had sub-areas and sites designated for tax relief under the town renewal scheme. Under both of these schemes tax relief is provided for the refurbishment and construction of certain residential, commercial and industrial buildings. In my Budget Statement I announced that arising from a review of the various property and area based tax incentive schemes that the following reliefs either have achieved the objectives set out for them or are no longer considered to be cost effective in terms of the objectives set out for them and are therefore being terminated subject to certain transitional provisions. These are the urban renewal, town renewal and rural renewal schemes, and the special relief for hotels, holiday cottages, student accommodation, multi-storey car parks, third-level educational buildings, sports injuries clinics, developments associated with park and ride facilities and the general rental refurbishment scheme.

This winding down of property based tax reliefs is consistent with the greater capacity of particular economic sectors nowadays to fund such investment from their own resources, and the sizeable capital investment which the Government itself is making through major new investments.