Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I join in welcoming Mr. Ó Neachtáin. I presume it is his first time addressing the Oireachtas and his contribution has impressed us. He has been a good pupil to learn so much so soon. Politics notwithstanding, we wish him well in the remaining months of his term and hopefully onwards from there.

His constituency, formerly Connacht-Ulster and soon to be Ireland-West, is the most peripheral region of the European Union and has always suffered from various degrees of disadvantage. It has also benefited greatly from Ireland's membership of the Union and there has been a very significant transfer of funds into Mr. Ó Neachtáin's European constituency. He noted that Objective One status remains until 2006 but in the coming years, as we see beginning already, Ireland will go from being a net beneficiary of European aid to being a net contributor. What impact will that have on his constituency? He mentioned the forthcoming constitutional treaty referendum. In recent years we have had several European referenda and, for better or for worse, one of the issues highlighted was that Ireland had benefited so strongly economically from the net influx of funding. Mr. Ó Neachtáin's constituency is home to many people who would be concerned that the impact of the new Europe and the new financial arrangements might disadvantage them further. What type of impact will that have on a forthcoming treaty referendum in his area when people become aware of our new role in Europe and the new financial commitments we must make? Will it be a negative impact?