Tom Barry (Cork East, Fine Gael)
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Question 54: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will address restrictions under the rural development programme which preclude hub towns from accessing certain funding streams because of their status under the national development plan. [11379/11]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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For the purposes of implementing Axes 3 & 4 of the Rural Development Programme (RDP), the following areas are excluded;

· The City Council boundaries of Dublin, Cork, Galway, Waterford and Limerick

· The Borough Council boundaries of Kilkenny, Sligo and Wexford

· The Town Council boundaries of Athlone, Ballina, Castlebar, Cavan, Dundalk, Ennis, Killarney, Letterkenny, Mallow, Monaghan, Mullingar, Tralee, Tuam and Tullamore.

During negotiations in respect of the Rural Development Programme, the European Commission indicated that the OECD definition of rural areas should be used to define the rural areas that would be covered by the Programme. The OECD defines rural areas as those with a population density of less than 150 persons per square kilometre. It was considered, in the Irish context, that a more appropriate course of action would be to remove the urban areas defined as hubs and gateways in the National Spatial Strategy from coverage under the Programme.

The use of this definition, rather than a population density calculation, ensures that Axes 3 & 4 Rural Development Programme funding is available to a more significant number of rural areas, which would otherwise not receive funding under the Programme.

This approach was adopted following detailed negotiations with the European Commission and is the best possible outcome in relation to Programme coverage.

The positive impact on rural areas will far outweigh any potential loss in hubs and gateways and, in overall terms, the level of investment resulting from the Rural Development Programme is a significant boost to the country as a whole.