Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

184. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government why no funding was allocated under the urban regeneration project schemes for regeneration in Cavan town as it was designated some years ago as a hub town under the national spatial strategy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3431/16]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

185. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government why no funding was allocated for regeneration in Monaghan town under the urban regeneration project scheme given that the town was designated as a hub town under the national spatial strategy some years ago; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3432/16]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 184 and 185 together.

The Urban Development Grant Scheme announced last week, which is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), is administered in Ireland by the two Regional Operational Programme Managing Authorities, the Northern and Western Regional Assembly and the Southern and Eastern Regional Assembly.

The approach adopted by the two Managing Authorities in the allocation of ERDF funding for urban related projects in their respective regions in the current EU Budget cycle covering the period 2014 – 2020 was largely dictated by the level of ERDF funding available to Ireland in the period.

For the previous ERDF co-funded Urban Development Grant scheme covering the period 2007 - 2013, the Northern and Western Region - then known as the Border Midland and Western (BMW) Region - was classified as a “transitional EU region” which qualified it for higher entitlement to ERDF funding. Arising from this, the €28m ERDF funding that was available to Ireland for the Urban Development Operational Programme for the 2007 – 2013 period was apportioned as follows–

- €17m to the BMW region, and

- €11m to the Southern and Eastern Region.

This larger share that was allocated to the BMW Region in that period allowed projects in both the gateways and hubs in the BMW region - as designated in the National Spatial Strategy 2002 – 2020 (NSS) - to be ERDF co-funded, with the Southern and Eastern Region being restricted to supporting projects in the designated gateways only.

In the new round for the 2014 - 2020 ERDF funding programme period, both Irish regions have been classified as ‘more developed’, and although the overall amount of ERDF funding available to Ireland under the Urban Development Operational Programme has increased to €40m, the reclassification of the Northern and Western Region has had the effect of considerably reducing the share of funding available to that Region. Consequently, the €40m total ERDF funding for urban projects in the 2013 – 2020 period has been apportioned as follows:

- €14m to the Northern and Western Region, and

- €26m to the Southern and Eastern Region.

In addition, during the negotiations on the new ERDF Operational Programmes, the European Commission stressed the need for the funding of larger scale projects and consequently suggested – having regard to the lower level of funding being provided to the Northern and Western Region - that only projects in cities and major urban centres should be eligible for funding in that Region. Arising from this, it was agreed that only the NSS designated gateways in the Northern and Western Region would be co-funded this time, while the additional funding available to the Southern and Eastern Region allowed projects in both the designated gateways and hub towns in the region to be eligible. This position was agreed with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform – which has overall responsibility for the management of the ERDF Operational Programmes in Ireland - and the draft programmes were approved by the Government on this basis. Furthermore, the Regional Assembly members were briefed on the outcome of the negotiations and on the agreed position with regard to the allocation of the urban funding under the new round of ERDF funding.