IBEC seeks new grant axis

A North/South dimension to the next round of EU grant funding will be among the Irish Business and Employers Confederation's proposals to be put to Government for the formulation of its National Development Plan, IBEC's European Affairs director Mr Peter Brennan said last night.

Speaking after a day-long work-ship on the social partners' priorities for structural funds between 2000-2006, Mr Brennan said that an all-Ireland perspective to funding had been stressed by Mr Esben, the official in the European Commission's regional directorate responsible for Ireland, the Chambers of Commerce of Ireland, Government officials and IBEC. He said proposals for the regionalisation of the State for the purposes of grant assessment had to be considered in the context of setting strategies and targets at regional level.

"The real issue is where the money is to be spent, not whether you are getting money," he said. Last week, the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Harney, submitted a memo to Cabinet in support of the Department of Finance's proposals to select 13 counties for Objective 1 status.

Ms Harney said there would be increases in the level of industrial State aid for western regions, along with higher EU investment, if they were allowed to retain Objective 1 EU grant status for the period 2000-2006. A Cabinet decision on the issue is not expected this week, a Government spokesman said last night.

"There will be enough funding available from the EU, from private sources and from the Exchequer to fund the top priorities of all the regions," Mr Brennan added. He said priorities to be selected lay in infrastructural and education and training projects. Tackling childcare needs, social exclusion problems and research and development issues had also been stressed at the conference. Among the submissions were ones made from people representing ICTU, Forfas, the Community Workers Co-op, the Irish Assembly of Regional Authorities and the Construction Industry Federation.