Written Answers. - Parliamentary Debates - Houses of the Oireachtas

Questions— 14 February 2012. Written Answers
submitted to Government via a Memorandum from the Minister for Public Expenditure and
Reform. The Teams will also be responsible for a pro-active communications strategy to relay
to the public the plans that are in place to deal with the impact of retirements to end-February.
Details of membership of the various teams and other details sought will be forwarded
directly to the Deputy.
State Assets
265. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if
it his intention to propose the disposal of Bord Gáis electricity generation and or supply as
part of the programme for Government commitment to sell off State assets. [7870/12]
266. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
following the statement by An Taoiseach to Dáil Éireann on 24 January 2012 that the Government
has made a formal decision in respect of the ESB assets, if it intends to sell to private
interests; and when he intends to relay this information to Dáil Éireann. [7891/12]
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (Deputy Brendan Howlin): I propose to take
Questions Nos. 265 and 266 together.
As I have previously informed the House, the matters referred to in the Deputy’s questions
have been examined by two inter-departmental groups: one group examined the ESB part-sale
and the second examined other assets, including Bord Gáis Éireann, in order to inform any
further decisions that the Government may wish to take. Although the reports of these groups
have been considered and discussed by relevant Ministers, they have not yet been considered
by the Government as a whole.
I have also had a series of discussions with the EU/ECB/IMF Troika on these matters, and
I am pleased to report that significant progress has been made, particularly on the issue of the
use to which the proceeds generated from any assets sales will be put. I expect the Government
to shortly be in a position to make a final decision on the scale and composition of the asset
disposal programme to be pursued and when this is finalised the House will be fully briefed on
these matters.
EU Funding
267. Deputy Maureen O’Sullivan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform his
plans to draw funding from the European Social Fund which contains €30 billion of uncommitted
funding and must be committed by the end of 2013; the plans in place to use this funding
towards job initiatives for young persons and the long-term unemployed here; if he has notified
the EU of his interest in drawing such funding for the purposes of job initiatives; and if he will
make a statement on the matter. [8022/12]
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform (Deputy Brendan Howlin): Ireland has been
allocated a total of €901m in EU Structural Funding for the period 2007-13. Of this, €750
million is assigned to the Regional Competitiveness and Employment (RCE) objective, and
the balance to Territorial Co-operation programmes, including the including the PEACE III
(Ireland/NI), INTERREG IVA (Ireland/NI and Western Scotland) and the Ireland Wales
Programme. The RCE objective is being delivered through three operational programmes, the
National ESF Human Capital Investment OP, managed by the Department of Education and
Skills, and the Border Midland and Western (BMW) and Southern and Eastern Regional
ERDF (S&E) OPs, managed by the BMW and S&E Regional Assemblies.
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