Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 305: To ask the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs the completed projects within Kildare that were proposed under the last national development plan by his Department; the number under construction; the number that have rolled over to the new NDP; the other new proposals that are planned for Kildare under the new NDP; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4287/07]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will be aware that the National Development Plan (NDP) 2000-2006 constituted a programme setting out the Government's broad strategic response to the State's economic and social development needs for the seven-year period in question, and that it did not set out specific project commitments.

My Department was involved in four Operational Programmes under the NDP 2000-2006, as follows:

the Productive Sector Operational Programme;

the Employment and Human Resources Development Operational Programme;

the Border, Midland and Western Regional Operational Programme; and

the Southern & Eastern Regional Operational Programme.

Assistance was provided under these Programmes across a range of measures in relation to:

the Gaeltacht, in terms of finance for industry, building construction, sectoral training, road improvements and harbour improvements;

urban and village renewal;

inland waterways development;

rural development, in the context of the Area Based Rural Development Initiative, the Rural Development Fund, Farm Relief Services and the Western Development Fund;

the development of disadvantaged communities through the Community Development Programme;

the promotion of local action plans to promote social inclusion under the Local Development Social Inclusion Programme; and

the National Drugs Strategy.

While my Department had no direct responsibility for any major infrastructural investments or projects in Co. Kildare under the NDP 2000-2006, funding was made available to local groups/ projects in the county during the period of the Plan under a number of programmes operated in the Southern & Eastern Region, including:

the Area Based Rural Development Programme, which provided funding of €1,277,600 to Kildare European LEADER Teo;

the Community Development Programme, which provided funding of €1.041m to three groups in Co. Kildare: The Bridge CDP (€0.254m), Athy CDP (€0.679m), and North West Kildare CDP (€0.108m);

the Local Development and Social Inclusion Programme, which provided funding of €6446,947 to two groups in Co. Kildare: Action South Kildare (€3946,440) and OAK Partnership (€2,500,507); and

the Inland Waterways Sub-Measure, under which Waterways Ireland funded a range of projects in Co. Kildare along the Grand Canal, Royal Canal and Barrow Navigation, including Bank Protection and Dredging along amounting to some 10,500m of waterway; installation of 680m of Moorings and Jetties; and restoration of the Athy Barge 'Aiséirí'.

The Deputy, will appreciate that, due to the diverse nature of these programmes, it would not be possible, in the time available, to provide details in respect of all of the individual projects assisted under the NDP 2000-2006. If the Deputy has specific queries in relation to any particular case, however, I will be happy to arrange for relevant information to be provided to him.

With regard to the new National Development Programme 2007-2013, my Department's involvement covers a variety of programmes within the following priority areas:

Enterprise, Science and Innovation;

Social Infrastructure; and

Social Inclusion.

In the Southern and Eastern Region, it is anticipated that a range of programmes will operate in sectors such as Rural Development; Rural Recreation; Community Development; Local Development; Volunteering; Inland Waterways and the Drugs Strategy. It is likely that funding will continue for many of the programmes and groups assisted under the previous Plan, but the Deputy will appreciate that it would be premature to seek to be more definitive at this time.

With regard to projects rolled over from the last NDP, I understand from Waterways Ireland that the Monasterevin Lifting Bridge on the Grand Canal Barrow Line and completion of Ardreigh Jetty on the Barrow Navigation are the only projects in Co. Kildare that they propose to have rolled over into the new NDP.