§ Lord Lairdasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in any further proposals for the railway system in Northern Ireland, the maximum European Union funding will be sought as well as any from the private sector; and whether funding so obtained will be additional to and not replacement for government funding. [HL2127]
§ Baroness Farrington of RibbletonProposals for EU funding for Northern Ireland were contained in the NI Structural Funds Plan 2000–05 which was submitted to the European Commission in November 1999. This included proposals in relation to public transport for both the Transitional Objective I and Peace II programmes. Negotiations on the new programmes are currently under way and we do not yet know precisely what the outcome or final allocations will be. The use of the Structural Funds in Northern Ireland meets fully the European Commission's requirements on additionality.
Following the publication of the A D Little report on railway safety in Northern Ireland (28 March 2000), the Government set up a task force to examine options for the future of railways in NI. Part of the remit of the task force will be to identify the range of options for the future of the railway network in Northern Ireland. This will take account of the scope for securing additional sources of funding to augment public expenditure for railways, including public private partnerships.