Vol. 497 No. 7
128 Mr. Farrelly asked the Minister for Fin ance if he will designate areas (details supplied) in County Meath as disadvantaged; if he will include these areas in the submission for Objec tive One status funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26164/98]
In accordance with the Government's decision, as announced in the Government's press release of 17 November, an application has been forwarded to EUROSTAT, the statistical service of the European commission, for the creation of two regions at the level of NUTS II, which is the level used for the determination of Objective One status.
The addition of areas on the lines submitted would not be a practical proposition. The regional classification system used by EURO STAT is hierarchical. NUTS II regions are made up in turn of NUTS III regions (in Ireland, coun ties are at NUTS IV level). Detaching part of a county in an attempt to put it into an Objective One region would involve extensive changes to the system which would not be approved by EUROSTAT.
