51 Mr. G. Reynolds asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the amount of capital expenditure on infrastructural projects by her Department in the Border, midlands and western region since its establishment to date; the projects funded; the amount of capital expenditure on infrastructural projects in the rest of the country in the same timeframe; and the projects funded. [7834/02]

The provision of support to industrial projects is a day-to-day matter for the industrial development agencies under the aegis of my Department and not one for which I, as Minister, would have a direct function. The relevant agencies are IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and Shannon Development.

I assume the Deputy is referring to the financing of capital infrastructure projects and, in that context, it is important to point out that the agencies' policy in recent years has been to move away from capacity building supports, such as capital grants, towards supports targeted on improving specific business functions such as research and development and skills enhancement.

The following information has been supplied by the agencies under the aegis of my Department – IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, and Shannon Development – regarding capital expenditure on infrastructure under the various relevant operational programmes.