Reform of EU structural funds and enlargement of the Union must not take place if they damage Ireland's delicate position on the periphery of the market, the Committee of the Regions in Brussels was told yesterday.
The vice-chairwoman of the Dublin Regional Authority, Mrs Betty Coffey, said the shift in emphasis to eastern Europe was potentially threatening to Irish interests.
She questioned whether "the lion's share of the structural funds will be diverted to new eastern European members" and warned that "Ireland has enormous problems yet to overcome, not the least of which is the transport of goods from an island on the western periphery of the Union".