John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 160: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the number of projects which have been approved under the marine tourism sub-measure; the details of said projects; the reason no projects had been approved by June 2004; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11164/06]

John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Applications relating to 62 projects were received in February 2002 following a call for applications under the marine tourism grant scheme, which is a sub-measure of the regional operational programmes of the national development plan. I understand that the projects were at the assessment phase when the scheme was suspended due to budgetary constraints in December 2002. All applicants were notified that their applications could not be considered further.

I have been advised that the Economic and Social Research Institute's mid-term evaluation of the national development plan, in respect of the marine tourism sub-measure, concluded that the external environment with regard to the tourism sector had deteriorated to the extent that further investment in the sector would be unlikely to have a high return. The institute recommended that the indicative budget for the scheme should be reallocated to other priority tourism measures. As no funding has been allocated to the scheme since 2003, it has not been possible to issue any grants under it.

John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 161: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the amount which was spent developing the tourism and angling recreational measure; the way in which this money was divided; if structures have been put in place to develop the tourism and recreational angling measure; the reason the decision was taken to curtail the allocation made for this project; if he intends to put money back into this measure over the coming years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11165/06]

John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 162: To ask the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources the projects which have so far been allocated money under the tourism and angling recreational measure; if the money for this measure comes from the Exchequer funds or from EU funds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11166/06]

John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 161 and 162 together.

I have been advised that an indicative budget of €30.476 million in total of Exchequer funding was originally identified for the tourism and recreational angling measure under the regional operational programmes of the 2000-06 national development plan. Some €21.4 million was identified for the BMW regional operational programme and some €9 million was allocated to the southern and eastern operational programme. The launch of the measure was delayed pending state aid clearance from the EU Commission, which was received in March 2002. I understand that it was decided in 2002, in the context of other budgetary priorities, to curtail the actual allocation to the measure.

Following a limited call for applications, however, over 60 applications were received and were assessed by a project assessment committee that was established to examine projects in accordance with the approved programme complement. A number of projects were approved for funding by the tourism product selection board that was established to assess tourism projects. The expenditure incurred to the end of 2002 was €504,025 in the BMW region and €715,154 in the southern and eastern region. The projects to which funding was allocated are listed in the table.

The Economic and Social Research Institute's mid-term evaluation of the marine tourism sub-measure of the 2000-06 national development plan concluded that the external environment in the tourism sector had deteriorated to the extent that further investment in the sector would be unlikely to have a high return. The institute recommended that the indicative budget for the measure in question should be reallocated to other priority tourism measures. No expenditure was incurred in respect of the measure in 2003, 2004 or 2005 and no expenditure has been provided for it in the 2006 budget of the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources.

I will now outline the projects which were allocated funding under the tourism and recreational angling measure in the various regional fisheries board areas.