Vol. 420 No. 5
113 Mr. Barry asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs whether the Government propose to approach the Governments of Greece, Spain and Portugal to ensure that sufficient funds will be available for the Delors II package which is designed to finance the cohesion fund promised at the Maastricht Summit in December 1991.
In the negotiations on the Delors II Package Ireland has major interests in common with Greece, Portugal and Spain. The Commission has proposed that the allocations to the Structural Funds and to the new Cohesion Fund taken together for these four countries should be a doubled. the Cohesion Fund was established by the European Union Treaty and will operate only in Ireland, Greece, Portugal and Spain.
We maintain contacts with the other countries in our approach to the negotiations on the Commission's proposals. This contact is important given our common interests on many of the issues arising in the context of the Delors II Package.
