§ Rev. Ian Paisleyasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much money Northern Ireland has received from the European regional development fund in each financial year from 1 January 1975; how much of these receipts each year represented a cash addition to the Northern Ireland economy; and how much was used to offset Government expenditure on Northern Ireland.
20W
Allocation £ million Year Total Private Sector Public Sector Direct Allocations Allocations Retained by Government 1973 4.08 — 4.08 –4.08 1974 4.95 0.73 4.22 0.73 4.22 1975 4.74 0.07 4.67 0.07 4.67
§ Mr. Adam ButlerDetails of the European regional development fund commitments and receipts on Northern Ireland projects since the inception of the fund in 1975 to 20 February 1981 are as follows:
Financial Year Commitments £ million Receipts£ million 1975–76 7.5 2.9 1976–77 6.8 7.2 1977–78 8.7 6.4 1978–79 14.2 4.0 1979–80 27.8 16.0 1980–81 (to 20 February) 26.3 20.9 Total 91.3 57.4 The balance of the commitments will be claimed as relevant work progresses towards completion.
European regional development fund receipts for Northern Ireland are handled in the same way as receipts for other parts of the United Kingdom. Receipts for infrastructure projects are passed on to bodies responsible for undertaking infrastructure works; receipts for industrial projects are used to help fund agreed programmes of financial assistance. Receipts from the European regional development fund allow the Government to finance a larger expenditure programme than would otherwise be the case, but it is not possible to identify precisely how different areas or different expenditure programmes would be affected if the receipts were not available.