Key investments in national plan hit by delay in spending approval

Key investment packages in the areas of tourism, agriculture and waste management, part of the National Development Plan, have failed to begin or have been seriously delayed, The Irish Times has learned.

Just over one year from the mid-term review of the National Development Plan the State's regional assemblies have reported that the European Union has so far failed to sanction spending measures on tourism, while spending on agriculture has been beset by the foot-and-mouth crisis.

Regional funding for other measures has also been halted by delays in adopting waste management plans.

The roll-out of broadband infrastructure was also hit by delays caused by Eircom and other telecoms companies handing back some of their Government-supported contracts and subsequent changes in the operation of State aid for broadband access. In all, the operational programmes for the regional assemblies oversee spending of about €6.5 billion (£5.12 billion) in the seven years from 2000 to 2006.

In the Southern and Eastern Region about €165 million (£130 million) in grant aid for tourism enterprises has been held up, while a similar figure is thought to apply to the BMW region.

Both assemblies have issued expressions of "regret" about the funding delays in tourism, which is expected to be particularly badly hit by the economic downturn. The delays have forced both regional bodies, the Border Midlands and Western (BMW) and the Southern and Eastern (S&E) to divert money from underspending programmes to those which are proceeding on schedule, to prevent the money being forfeited.

In a statement by its monitoring committee this week, the Southern and Eastern regional assembly said it was "regretful to report that, at a time when the tourism industry is in most need of assistance, State aid clearance from the European Commission has still not been provided in respect of the tourism measures in the regional programme".

In relation to agriculture the committee noted that "the slow pace of implementation of the agriculture and rural development measures in the first half of 2001 is due entirely to the difficulties arising from the foot-and-mouth restrictions which pertained early in the year."

While the assembly said the agriculture measures had now begun, there must be some doubt that full progress can be made in time for next year's mid-term review.

The director of the BMW regional assembly, Mr Gerry Finn, said the assembly, which published its monitoring committee report in Tullamore yesterday, had also experienced similar delays in these sectors. Both bodies, however, did report substantial progress in the areas of spending on roads, water and waste-water schemes as well as a range of social inclusion measures including childcare and area development partnerships.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Finance said day-to-day individual spending by the regional assemblies and "line departments" was essentially a matter for the departments.