Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

I would like to bring to the attention of the House some important financial transactions in December 1994 not referred to in the tribunal in which the then Minister for Finance was involved and which have been of lasting public benefit. Following the IRA ceasefire, the then Minister for Finance, Deputy Bertie Ahern, did all the groundwork leading up to the decision made by the European Council at Essen on 9 and 10 December 1994 to establish the peace and reconciliation funds to be concentrated in the 12 Border counties, particularly those in Northern Ireland. The amount paid through these funds will, by 2013, amount to over €1.8 billion, of which over €1.3 billion will have come from the EU.

In an interview with The Irish Times, published on 14 December 1994 and given on the occasion of his leaving office, Deputy Bertie Ahern pointed out that the new Government would inherit the healthiest public finances for 27 years, with the first current budget surplus since 1967. At the time, a new partnership agreement, the PCW, had come into force. This was opposed by Fine Gael when in opposition——

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