Dominic Hannigan (Meath East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Before I ask others to contribute, I welcome the remarks made by the Tánaiste. I am particularly glad to hear about the discussions on enlargement and the Balkans region. He will be aware that the committee has had a long-standing interest in the region and a delegation visited last autumn. We met Valentin Inzko who is the EU High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina in Sarajevo and he will attend the COSAC plenary session on enlargement to address us on the issues faced by the Balkans and Bosnia, in particular.

The Tánaiste also mentioned the other countries. Has he thoughts on the issues related to Montenegro? Earlier this week I met Aleksandar Andrija Pejović who is the chief negotiator on accession to the Union on behalf of Montenegro. The Montenegrins are keen for liaison between national parliaments such as ours and their parliament to develop to ensure that as they move through the opening and closing of chapters, they get as much help as possible from countries such as Ireland. Perhaps the Tánaiste will take this on board.

I welcome his comments on Turkey and the hope that we will open a chapter in this regard during our Presidency. We have waited too long for the accession of Turkey and, therefore, I welcome the movement in that direction.

I refer to the MFF and the development budget. Yesterday's newspapers reported that the Tánaiste met Mr. Bill Gates and he was quoted as being concerned about the development aid budget. What is the position on the development aid negotiations?