It's not just the money Bertie
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Ahern and the other Fianna Fáil ministers were saving nothing in the
self congratulation and trumpet blowing department
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``There is a strong view... probably the majority around the table,
that we should not be entitled to cohesion funds at all.'' This was
the opinion of Bertie Ahern, speaking at 6.30 am last Saturday
morning after a new agreement on EU spending for the years 2000 to
2006 had been concluded by the EU heads of state.
Ahern and the other Fianna Fáil ministers were saving nothing in the
self-congratulation and trumpet-blowing department. They had played
hardball and stayed up all night so they must have won something.
The 26 Counties will receive total structural and cohesion funds of
£2.97 billion, £10 billion in funds for farmers with £400 million
being added to the EU's fund for Peace and Reconciliation. The Six
Counties will receive £1.5 billion in structural and cohesion funds,
almost the same as it received in the 1994 to 1999 funding round. The
funding level here has been maintained because the British government
has promised to make up any shortfall in EU spending.
Ahern was upbeat in his assessment of the funding negotiations. He
had got more money out of the EU than many thought the Dublin
government could secure. On the agricultural front, the funding cuts
in CAP spending have been put off until 2006 so the Irish
agricultural sector can totter on in its current chaotic state for
another six years.
What Bertie Ahern has not done in the case of any of the funds -
structural, cohesion or CAP - is to recognise the failures and the
drawbacks of the funding mechanisms being used by the EU. For
example, just under 7% of the total funding - £200 million - will be
spent on community initiatives.
These community initiatives are the one part of the EU funds that
actually make a difference at the basic level of society, yet they
are a tiny amount of the total level of funding.
There has been no action on the inequities of the Common Agricultural
Policy, where 10% of the farmers get 66% of the funds. This means
that £6.6 billion in funds will go to the privileged farming group
over the next six years, over £450,000 each.
There were no funding initiatives to promote organic farming in
Ireland, no recognition of the problems facing small farmers, and
insufficient funding devoted to rural development programmes or
broadleaf forest projects.
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£6.6 billion in funds could go to the privileged farming group over
the next six years, over £450,000 each.
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The structural funds secured by Ahern will be split into spending in
two regions. The Western/Border/Midlands region will receive £932
million while the Eastern/Southern region will receive £1.45 billion.
This funding split arose because of the Dublin government's belief
that by ring-fencing counties whose wealth was below 75% of the EU
average, they would get more funding than the more wealthy eastern
and southern states. This strategy backfired when the EU Commission
insisted that Clare and Kerry be withdrawn from the poor list.
At the end of the day, the difference in funding is simply that the
EU is paying £847 per person in the western/border/midlands region
compared to £580 person in the eastern/southern region.
The government has also committed itself to a form of regionalisation
of government structures in order to qualify for the new round of EU
funding. They have not made any commitments on what form these new
structures will take.
This all highlights the pressing need for real empowered local
democracy in Ireland. The Dublin government has not explained to the
Irish people how the two new regions will be administered and what
structures they intend to create.
No, there is simply a belief that the boys did well solely because
they managed to keep the other 14 heads of state up all night. Fine
Gael's criticism of Fianna Fáil's funding accomplishment was that the
level of funding had halved on what they brought home in 1994. This
position, however, falls into the same trap that Fianna Fáil are in -
a fascination with the total level of funding and not enough
questioning of what the funds will be actually used for.
The core selling point of the EU since entry in 1972 and in every
referendum and crisis since has hinged on one core selling point:
they will give us money. Any of the downsides, even if they were
prepared to admit them, would be offset by the level of EU funds
flowing into the Irish economy.
The structural funds should prioritise the areas and communities that
are most disadvantaged in Ireland. There should also be maximum
participation of citizens and communities in deciding how the
structural fund plan should be applied in their areas. Funds should
be applied in the must efficient, equitable and transparent way
possible while taking every precaution to protect and enhance our
environment. Now that would be worth keeping Bertie Ahern up all
night for.
Banks without ethics
Did you hear the one about the ethical bank? Probably not. According
to a survey by the Debt and Development Coalition, no Irish bank has
an ethical position to guide their lending policies to Third World
states.
The Coalition wrote to 20 Irish banks and of the 13 who replied, only
the Ulster Bank showed any understanding of the issues of ethical
lending. Their recommendation is that ``lending to developing
countries, even if it is relatively small in terms of overall lending
or for the purpose of supporting the trade of Irish companies, should
be done under ethical guidelines.
The next step would be to adopt ethical lending policies for their
business in Ireland but for now it is back to the usual scenario of
banks without ethics.
Wage dangers
The economy is being endangered yet again by dangerous workers who
are getting wage increases that are too high. The Director General of
the employers' group IBEC, John Dunne, claimed that the
competitiveness of the Irish economy is under threat because of ``the
drift in earnings''.
Speaking at an IBEC conference, Dunne singled out the wage increases
paid out to public sector workers over the last year as being
inflationary. Dunne is also opposed to the progressive changes in
working-time regulations and the establishment of works council and
unrestricted access to parental leave.
The IBEC director told the conference that ``there is still a lot of
work to be done if attitudes are to be in tune with modern
requirements''. It seems though, that IBEC's attitude to the workplace
has more in common with Dickens' 19th century than any future Irish
workers want to be in.
Bank breakers
The Central Bank has written to three of the main Irish financial
institutions to warn them about breaching lending guidelines to home
buyers.
Letters were sent to the three institutions by the Central Bank after
they found the banks were lending too much money to individual
borrowers. Most banks and building societies will only allow house
purchasers to borrow 2.5 times their incomes.
The Central Bank is worried that if interest rates increase, home
owners who have these high cost loans will not be able to make the
payments. Higher loans also keep house prices high.
However, warning letters is as far as it will go with the banks as
the Central Bank has no power to enforce lending guidelines on
financial institutions. It seems that all the promises of tougher
regulation for the banking sector have fallen short again.
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