Vol. 492 No. 2
77 Mr. Boylan asked the Minister for Finance the plans, if any, he has to match the British Government's commitment to retaining Objective One status for the six counties of Northern Ireland with a similar commitment to the six Border counties of the Republic of Ireland as part of the Irish Government and EU support for the Belfast Agreement. [10971/98]
The European Community has made a generous and substantial contribution to reconciliation and to economic and social development in Northern Ireland and in the Border counties.
In this context, President Santer has spoken of finding new creative ways of availing of the fresh opportunities the Good Friday Agreement will bring. The General Affairs Council of the community's Foreign Ministers, noted the contribution made by community assistance in promoting the prospects for peace and agreed that the community should continue to play an active role. The European Parliament has also called for consideration of how the agreement can be supported in practical terms. Ireland warmly welcomes the ongoing support of our partners and the Government will continue to work with our community partners in examining the options for continued support in this regard.
However, it is not yet clear what form community support for securing and consolidating the peace will take. We are not aware at this moment of any particular proposal by the UK authorities for such community support. More specifically, we are not aware of any proposal by the UK authorities to obtain full Objective One status for Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland on the basis of its GDP figures is facing the same situation as Ireland, i.e. graduating over the seven years after 1999 from full Objective One status to lower levels of Objective Two type assistance.
The Government is, however, conscious that the recent prosperity achieved by Ireland has not applied uniformly throughout the country. Certain regions have not done as well as the rest of the country in terms of indicators applying at the more localised level. In particular, the regions of the Border, the west and the midlands currently have a per capita GDP of less than 75 per cent of the EU average.
In this context one possible strategy to address the development needs of these regions, including the Border counties, is to pursue a regionalisation approach to the next round of structural funding whereby the country would be divided into two new regions, of which one, comprising the Border, the west and the midlands regions, would qualify for Objective One status. Ireland cannot unilaterally adopt a regionalisation approach. It would be for the European Commission as a whole to approve a regionalisation approach. It has to be said that indications to date as to the likely response to this option are not positive.
