76 Mr. Collins asked the Minister for Finance his views on the post-1999 situation in relation to the retention of Community Structural Funds in view of the fact that Ireland is considered as one single region at present and as a single region may reach the commission average by 1999, thereby losing objective 1 status and in view of the fact that a number of individual regions in Ireland may continue to find themselves well below the Community average, which raises the question of the division of the country into a number of separate regions for the purpose of post 1999 Structural Fund allocations. [17669/95]

The Government is monitoring and will continue to monitor all aspects of Ireland' position in relation to eligibility for Structural Funds after 1999 as a result of the increase in Ireland's GDP per capita as a percentage of the European Union's average.