Mr. Jim Deane:

There are two areas here, but I will answer the question in the context of Cohesion Funds. We have concerns about how it will be applied. The Government is signed up at member state level to ensure that there is fiscal discipline and that measures are in place to ensure that it takes place and that is part of the agenda. However, within a Cohesion Funds context we must ensure that the application of that does not impact on programme delivery. We are responsible for taking the legislative package through the EU Council and for the negotiations with the EU Parliament. We are striving to ensure that there are safeguards in place in order that local people are not penalised for member states not adhering to fiscal discipline requirements. We believe enough safeguards have been built into the Cohesion Funds regulations such that only if a member state completely disregards direction from the European Commission and the Council on adhering to targets could there be an impact on Cohesion Funds. I share Deputy Doherty's concern in this regard but we hope we are doing enough to address it in the context of the Cohesion Funds legislative package and we must be cognisant that the Government is signed up to these at EU levels.