Mr Padraig Flynn has said he would have no interest in being a member of a "lame duck" Commission administration. He also said he had paid a "heavy price" for past mistakes and said that begrudgery persisted in Irish society.
Ireland's EU Commissioner predicted yesterday that the State was likely to receive structural fund support worth £300 million a year over the next five years.
Mr Flynn refused to make any comment on the letter the Flood tribunal had sent to the Dail and said the matter was being dealt with by his legal advisers. And commenting on his own future, Mr Flynn said: "I have no interest in being a member of a lame duck administration."
He said he had made his own decision to leave Brussels as far back as last July when he purchased a car to bring back to Mayo. Asked if he had any regrets about going on the Late Late Show, Mr Flynn said he had no regrets about anything he had done. "If I made mistakes in my life I have paid a heavy price," he said. Mr Flynn said many things had changed in Ireland for the better, but the one thing that had not changed was "the level of begrudgery".
He said he hoped his replacement would get a senior portfolio in the Commission which would be of benefit to the people of Europe and Ireland.
Mr Flynn predicted that Ireland would receive more than £300 million a year in structural funding over the next five years. He also believed the State could qualify for £200 million a year from Cohesion funding.
He told journalists there would be a generous phasing-out period for areas which had lost Objective 1 status and the phasing-out period would be "gradual and gentle". The Commissioner also said there would be a package of about €500 million (almost £394 million) for a special Northern Ireland package and while Mr Trimble would not quite achieve the €2 billion package sought, he would come close to it.