Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

Does anyone else want to come in? No. Did any of the witnesses feel there was anything they did not get a chance to say and want to add at this stage? No.

I thank the witnesses for taking the time to be with us today. On behalf of the committee, I thank them for their engagement, which has allowed us to explore the detail of cohesion and rural development funding in the context of the current EU budget and the proposals for the MFF, which the committee will also examine. As I said earlier, in conjunction with the meeting we held last week with Councillor Coughlan and the president of the European Committee of the Regions, Ms Tütt - I am always afraid of mispronouncing it - we got a lot of information. We will put it together in a report and the witnesses will receive a copy of that when it is available.

We will now go into private session before adjourning until 3.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 22 October, for a private meeting.