The Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, in Brussels for a meeting of EU Finance Ministers, yesterday hinted that the Government may be willing to release new data on the relative wealth of individual counties.
The figures, which have been put together by the Central Statistics Office for the first time, will be used as the basis for the Irish claim to the Commission for preferential treatment for Clare and Kerry.
The figures are now the subject of a Dail question form the leader of the Labour Party, Mr Ruairi Quinn, and their publication is likely to lead to claims from other counties that they have been discriminated against.
The Government yesterday submitted its formal request to the European Commission for the regionalisation of the State for structural funding.
The request will be considered by the EU's statistical service, Eurostat, which yesterday issued a statement standing over its calculation of regional GDP figures disputed on Friday by the Government.
The discrepancy between the figures of the Central Statistics Office and Eurostat is marginal and does not affect the overall eligibility of counties for funding. It is understood to be due to a change in the way Eurostat estimates the effect of Irish domestic price levels on purchasing power.
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