Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and his officials to the meeting. He mentioned that he met with the Minister of State, Mr. Lidington, MP, in London and Edinburgh last week. Were there informal discussions on the referendum in the United Kingdom on EU membership?

In terms of the work programme, the financial transaction tax was mentioned. I ask for an update on where we are going on that, and if there is any opposition in Dublin or London to it.

An interesting aspect of the work programme is the establishment of a European public prosecutor's office, of which I have not heard previously. I presume that will be involved in trans-European issues, whether it be fraud or other criminality. What role would the Director of Public Prosecutions have in that regard? If the Minister of State does not have information on it he might follow up on it at a future date.

A project called the Fourth Railway Package was mentioned. The point I wish to make is not particularly about railways but the basis of policy on infrastructural projects. I refer in particular to what is called the TEN-T project regarding transport and the transnational measures therein. In terms of what that means, if a project encompasses a number of companies, presumably they have advantages in terms of funding compared to Ireland, which has one land border with the United Kingdom via Northern Ireland. I am aware that under the TEN-T project approximately €26 billion is available over a number of years. It might be a small percentage of funding vis-à-vismatching funding from national Government but the project highlighted in Ireland is almost like a line from Belfast to Dublin to Cork, with the western area left out. I am concerned that we do not have the options to access that funding that other European countries have by virtue of the land border.