The Fianna Fail parliamentary party has been divided by the Government's decision to include Clare and Kerry in the counties it is nominating for maximum EU funding.
The decision has caused deep disquiet in Fianna Fail, with a Minister of State and a number of TDs openly criticising members of the Cabinet for including Clare and Kerry while excluding other Munster counties.
Mr Willie O'Dea, Minister of State at the Department of Justice and Fianna Fail TD for Limerick East, strongly criticised the Minister for Arts, Culture, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, for suggesting that she and the Minister for Justice were responsible for the inclusion of Clare and Kerry.
Mr O'Dea said: "I take grave exception to members of the Government going on the national airwaves claiming that they have some inside track which will haul their region into Objective One status."
A number of Fianna Fail TDs were annoyed at the apparent influence of the Independent South Kerry TD, Mr Jackie Healy-Rae, who last night took credit for his county's inclusion in the proposed Objective One region. "Certainly I feel it was my doing, to be honest", he said.
Mr Liam Aylward, the Fianna Fail TD for Carlow/Kilkenny, has expressed bitter disappointment at the exclusion of either county in his constituency from the Government's regionalisation plans. "There is no point in being a Fianna Fail backbencher any more", he said last night. "Jackie Healy-Rae is running the show. He is running Fianna Fail."
Mr O'Dea and the Limerick West Fianna Fail TD, Mr Michael Collins, protested to the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, about yesterday's Cabinet decision. ail parliamentary party is to discuss the regionalisation issue again today.
The Cabinet's decision was announced yesterday after many weeks of deliberations. It is formally seeking to change the State's current status as a single region for the purposes of EU structural and cohesion funding to one comprising two regions.
Following the Cabinet decision, the Department of Finance will propose to EUROSTAT, the statistical service of the European Commission, that 15 counties should continue to qualify for Objective One status in the next round of funding from 2000 to 2006. The remaining 11 counties would be classified as Objective One in transition. No Dail vote is required.
The political controversy centres on the manner in which 15 counties, from five of the eight current sub-regions, were selected to retain Objective One status. They comprise Galway, Mayo and Roscommon of the Western region; Donegal, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan, Louth and Sligo of the Border region; and Offaly, Longford, Westmeath and Laois from the Midlands region.
The inclusion of the whole county of Kerry leaves the existing South-West region with Cork alone. Similarly, the inclusion of Clare from the current Mid-West region excludes Tipperary North Riding and Limerick.