Cullen using €19.5m package ‘to buy votes’

LABOUR accused Environment Minister Martin Cullen of being like Santa Claus for trying to sweeten voters when he announces the €19.5 million urban renewal and Border grant package today.

The money is being used to buy votes in the lead up to next year's local and European elections, just like the National Lottery grants, Labour's Environment spokesman, Eamon Gilmore, claimed yesterday.

"Mr Cullen is like a political Santa Claus trying to sweeten the voters in the run up to next year's local and European elections," Mr Gilmore said.

But the minister rejected these claims and said this latest funding is part of a six-year programme of urban renewal investment.

"I fail to see how you can say this is a once-off gesture to buy votes because we have already provided funds for this programme in the past three years and it has another three years to run," Mr Cullen's spokesman said.

This money will also be used to help Border communities, with €800,000 being allocated to six projects under the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation, the minister's spokesman added.

The following projects will get funding under the new package:

* €6.5m for urban regeneration in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford.

* €8.1m for town and village improvements.

* €1.132m for architectural conservation of public buildings.

* €2.8m for Protected Structures Grant Scheme for privately owned buildings.

* €0.2m for the regeneration of a Dublin Docklands Development Authority region.

* €0.8m for the Peace II six Border counties programme.

The urban and village renewal grants for local authorities are being funded by the National Development Plan's two regional operational programmes.

Fine Gael also claimed the money was being used as a sweetener to buy votes in next year's local and European elections because the projects will only then be coming on stream.

Fine Gael's Environment spokesman, Bernard Allen, said he was not convinced the grants were allocated according to need. "My concern is that the decisions were made on a political basis Minister Cullen should have set up an independent group to consider the merits of all applications."

He said Fine Gael has been demanding a similar independent body to monitor allocation of National Lottery grants for some time.