As the Deputy is aware, there is a Ministers and Secretaries General committee which meets on a very regular basis. That is a combination of the leadership of the Taoiseach and the various Ministers involved in the negotiations together with the Secretaries General and officials of the various Departments. It has been meeting regularly with the view to a positive outcome to the negotiations. The negotiations are serious and the outcome appears less than generous from Ireland's point of view. I refer particularly to the Common Agricultural Policy proposals – CAP II – and Cohesion and Structural Funds. We are bound to tell the House that we are seized of the necessity to present a strong case on all three fronts to the various ministerial councils involved.
The Minister for Agriculture and Food will begin an open-ended meeting on Monday next which, hopefully, will conclude on Thursday, with his ministerial agricultural colleagues on the whole question of the Common Agricultural Policy. I am in close touch with the Minister for Agriculture and Food, the Taoiseach and the Minister for Finance, in my co-ordinating role. We take these negotiations seriously. Given that I was involved in the previous negotiations with the then Minister for Finance, Deputy Bertie Ahern, and the then Taoiseach, Deputy Albert Reynolds, in Edinburgh in 1992, I am aware of the need to keep in close contact with all the relevant Departments that have an input into the negotiations.
On the Deputy's question as to what other than CAP are the main issues so far as Structural Funds are concerned, the problem is the suggestion that stability is the principle, in other words there will be no increase in the funds available as between 1992 and the present. In the context of the overall funding there is a considerable threat to Ireland's position. The problem as I, the Taoiseach, other Ministers and the civil servants involved see it, is that the Celtic tiger gives a false picture. In addition to many other problems the infrastructural development has been left far behind. We have to continue to emphasise we are an island off the mainland of Europe and that the needs in terms of Cohesion and Structural Funds are still very real. They have to take account of the lack of infrastructural development, environmental need and other issues which are extremely important.
The interdepartmental group on Agenda 2000 chaired by the Department of Foreign Affairs was established in July 1997 to consider Ireland's overall strategy in relation to the Agenda 2000 negotiations and report to the Ministers and Secretaries General group on EU policy chaired by the Taoiseach. The interdepartmental group met regularly for that purpose until the Vienna-European Council on 11-12 December 1998. With a view to co-ordinating Ireland's approach in the decisive final phase of the negotiations, the Government decided in December 1998 to establish a Cabinet sub-committee on Agenda 2000 as well as an expert technical group to support that sub-committee, both of which are chaired by the Taoiseach. Informal co-ordination takes place on a day to day basis between the relevant Departments.
Effectively, it is all systems go as far as Agenda 2000 negotiations are concerned. The Germans wish to bring the negotiations to a conclusion at the final Council meeting on 24-25 March. While that is what they are aiming for, it is not cast in stone. We are not seeking any special consideration apart from our entitlement as a member of the EU and we are not engaging in a process of pretence, with the begging bowl or the upturned hat, quite the contrary. We are there as an equal member of the European Union and we seek only equity and justice in the negotiations.
The Presidency, under my colleague, Mr. Joscha Fischer, who is an understanding individual, seeks to advise countries such as Ireland, Spain, Portugal and Greece that their net contribution over the years has to be reduced. That is his negotiating position. Our negotiating position is otherwise.