Amid continuing divisions in Fianna Fail about Government plans to split the country into rich and poor areas for EU funding, the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, has told his party that the difference between adopting a regional policy and leaving the State in one unit is only £100 million.
The Minister indicated during a 21/2-hour special debate on regionalisation in the Fianna Fail parliamentary party yesterday that he was willing to support significant investment in disadvantaged areas which will not get Objective 1 status for structural funding.
Ultimately, any decision on regionalisation, which is expected within weeks, must be made "in the overall national interest", he said.
A number of the party's Oireachtas members, particularly from the south-east, informed the Minister that provision must be made for black-spot areas through a parallel package of measures.
In a trenchant declaration of the need for assistance in the south-east, the Minister of State for the Marine, Mr Hugh Byrne of Wexford, said he wanted any proposals to embrace as many black-spots as possible.
Senator Michael Lanigan said a huge lobby from the west had used its influence inside and outside the parliamentary system to prove that people were doing fine everywhere except in their region.
Demanding "equality in spending", Senator Lanigan insisted that statistics demonstrated that the south-east was "not getting a fair share of the national cake". The region had the third highest rate of unemployment in the country, and the lowest level of involvement in third level education; the lowest weekly household disposable income and lower wage rates than the other regions.
"The case we started making for the south-east is not a case of this region versus others. We need more spending, irrespective of where the funds come from," he said.
Deputy Liam Aylward from Carlow-Kilkenny, who had sought the debate, also demanded "equality". Funding, be it Exchequer or domestic, must be put into areas of most need, he said.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the parliamentary party, Dr Rory O'Hanlon, said the party was unanimous in the view that the maximum amount of structural funding should be secured by the Government. However, the Government had made no final decision on the matter. It appeared that the best way to achieve this was by way of regionalisation, which would involve Objective 1 status for the west, the midlands and the Border counties and Objective 1 in transition for the other 13 counties.
The Dail debate on regionalisation will take place in a fortnight, and it is expected the Cabinet will have reached agreement on the matter before that.
The leader of Democratic Left, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, said last night that a leaked Department of Finance document, published in Business and Finance, showed that the country would end up with a negligible financial advantage if regionalised.
"More significantly, the paper clearly suggests that if the two regions strategy is pursued, long-term unemployment black-spots in Dublin and other areas outside the west, midland and Border regions would be at a significant disadvantage in regard to aids for job creation, with grants for start-up industries falling from a high of 75 per cent to as little as 20 per cent," he said.