asked the Minister for Transport and Power the number of State grants, together with the total amount of money involved, which were (a) sanctioned and (b) paid for the building of new hotels during the past year.

38.

asked the Minister for Transport and Power the number of State grants, together with the total amount of money involved, which were (a) sanctioned and (b) paid for the repair and reconstruction of hotels during the past year.

With the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, I propose to take Questions Nos. 37 and 38 together.

Grants for the building and improvement of hotels are made by Bord Fáilte in their discretion out of the fund of £500,000 provided for holiday accommodation development under Section 2 (1) (b) of the Tourist Traffic Act, 1959. Particulars of the Board's expenditure under this head are shown in their annual accounts and supplementary information is included in their annual report. The information sought by the Deputy, in so far as it is not included in the annual report, is not available in my Department.