Ireland is to receive more than €3.3 billion in structural funding from the European Union over the next six years, commissioner Phil Hogan announced today in Brussels.
The budgetary package will comprise funding from the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, as well as other sources of EU funding, which will be distributed to Ireland between 2014 and 2020.
The funds include €68 million for the youth unemployment scheme, a €100 million investment for the Border, Midland and Western (BMW) Region, and €150 million towards a new Northern Ireland PEACE programme.
Mr Hogan declined to comment on the ongoing controversy surrounding Irish Water, saying he “looked forward to hearing what the Government has to say tomorrow” on the issue.
Speaking to journalists in Brussels this afternoon, Mr Hogan, who assumed the post of EU agriculture commissioner on November 1st, also addressed issues surrounding the EU-US trade deal, calling on the United States to spell out its priorities regarding the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).
“There is no demonstration of a serious intent at the moment to have a TTIP deal on the American side,” Commissioner Hogan said. “We’ve had a very slow response to position papers that have been put to the American side.”
The European Commission began negotiating an ambitious trade deal between the European Union and the US last year, but the proposed deal has met resistence from interest groups in some member states.
Ongoing discussions between the US and Asian economies about an Asian-Pacific trade deal, dominated discussions at last weekend's Asia-Pacific summit which was attended by president Obama, fuelling concerns that the US intends to prioritise a trade deal with Asia before moving forward with TTIP.
“I don’t know [IF]the Americans are interested in doing a deal at the moment - they are more interested in the Asia Pacific region,” Mr Hogan said. “We are engaging at the moment with the United States to establish if they’re serious about doing a deal in 2015.”
Noting that there will be a US presidential election in 2016, Commissioner Hogan said that, if in the first half of next year, there is no appetite for a deal, it is likely to be put aside until after the presidential election.
"President Obama said over the weekend that if Europe wanted this deal, it was up to Europe to put forward proposals. We have put forward our proposals in a very open and transparent way... unfortunately the United States can't even tell their own congress about the contents of their own negotiating mandate which is creating conspiracy, suspicion and mis-information."
Mr Hogan, who is due to meet with the US chief negotiator in Brussels on Friday, said that the import of hormone beef into the European Union was not on the table. “We will insist on good quality beef coming in here with EU standards associated with good quality food. We won’t be allowing, as some farmers are worried about, to have... hormone beef coming on to the European market. That won’t be allowed.”
Asked about the issue of EU milk quotas, Mr Hogan said the quotas for this year were non-negotiable, noting that 20 of the 28 EU member states had no problem with quotas. Last month it emerged that Ireland could be hit with a record €80 million fine for exceeding its milk quota this year if the current level of supply is not curtailed.
The EU is abolishing milk quotas next year, which is expected to prompt a major expansion of the Irish dairy industry. “The rules as regards milk quotas were outlined in 2008 and most member states have adhered to those milk quota rules, including the 1 per cent extra they got every year [...]the people who are looking for the rules to be changed, know that the rules are [THERE]since 2008 and they should adhere to them.”
