Coffey calls for rebalancing of EU Regional Aid to increase assistance for South East

Fine Gael Waterford Deputy, Paudie Coffey, has today (Thursday) raised the issue of EU Regional Aid in the Dáil and called on the Government to ensure that it is rebalanced to give more assistance to the South East.  

New Regional Aid Maps are due to be submitted by the Government to the European Commission before the end of June, taking effect from July 1^st 2014.    Deputy Coffey said this is an issue that he has been raising over the course of the last year to ensure the Government makes it a priority.

“Regional Aid is paid in the form of grants by the IDA to businesses in order to support new investment and new employment in Europe’s most disadvantaged regions.   The new Regional Aid Guidelines 2014-2020 were adopted after extensive consultations by the European Commission with many stakeholders and now national governments must use these guidelines to submit new Regional Aid Maps.

“At present,   the South East is at a disadvantage because it is receiving 5% less support from the EU across the board in comparison to the Boarder, Midland and Western (BMW) region.

“The previous Regional Aid Map gave greater levels of assistance to the BMW region, which may have been appropriate back in 2007 when it was drawn up. But this can no longer apply and preference must be given to the South East region, where the unemployment rate is the highest in the State.

“I raised this matter with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, in the Dáil last year and he said that the new Regional Aid Maps would take into account the unemployment situation in each country and the level of Gross Domestic Product. Considering how the economic collapse has hit the South East, I now call on Minister Bruton to ensure that Waterford is given additional support when the Government’s new maps are submitted in the coming weeks.

“This would be of assistance to Waterford and the South East and would hopefully allow for a greater level of Foreign Direct Investment. Positive discrimination is needed for the region worst affected by the economic crash.”

ENDS