The Taoiseach hailed the outcome of the budget talks as good for Ireland, but warned that the State's days of receiving substantial EU funds were almost over.
At a 6.30 a.m. press conference at the end of the talks, Mr Ahern pointed to aspects of the final agreement that were considerably more advantageous to Ireland than he had expected during the previous day's talks.
He said he had always predicted the negotiations would be difficult for Ireland because of the State's relative and increased wealth. "The relative wealth of Ireland has brought a dramatic change and it's not going to get any easier" in the future.
Cohesion funds would be gone within a few years, while the Republic's two regions would have to fight for whatever funding status was available in the future, he said. "Whoever is here [representing Ireland] in 2006 is going to find it very likely that they will be on the side that I was fighting for the last two days - the net contributors. That's the way we are moving.
"There is a strong view held by the [German] presidency and probably the majority around the table that we should not be entitled to cohesion funds at all." There had been considerable data to back up that case, he said, but the Government argued with the available data.
In the end however, not only had Ireland got cohesion funding but would continue to get it until a mid-term review in September 2003. An annual review of whether member-states qualified for cohesion funds was proposed at one stage, Mr Ahern said, and if that had been accepted "we were gone in year one".
The outcome of negotiations on agriculture was also "extremely good" for Ireland, he said. "The beef package out of the agriculture council was excellent, the milk is now precisely what I set out to achieve with the quota there from the start, and [the deal on] cereals will also help the cereal farmers tremendously."
He said he was satisfied that Ireland, with the support of France and Belgium, had successfully resisted proposals to reintroduce the concept of "degressivity" into the agricultural package. This would have ensured steady annual cuts in direct farm income support, which Mr Ahern estimated could have cost Irish farmers £120 million over the seven-year period.
Total non-agricultural funding coming into Ireland over the seven-year 2000-06 period will be €3.76 billion (£2.9 billion), he said, while agricultural transfers over the same period would be €12.65 billion.
He said the Government was also happy that its regionalisation plans had been approved and were part of the conclusions of the summit. This was important not only for the extra EU resources that would be provided for the region, but also for the attractive State aids that could be offered to industries setting up in the Objective 1 region. This was a huge consideration in the Government's pursuit of its regional development policy.
He acknowledged that there were unemployment black spots and areas in need of development within the region that had lost Objective One status. "The resources that we have saved the Exchequer through having Objective One in half the country have to be looked at" when the Government was deciding how to deal with this problem.
He believed the outcome of the budget negotiations had protected the funding package earmarked for the enlargement of the EU. It was notable that the EU leaders had resisted the temptation to "raid the enlargement package" to find extra funds for the agriculture budget. "Nobody wanted to participate in sending a signal that we didn't believe enlargement could happen" within the planned timeframe.