The outcome of the Agenda 2000 negotiations in Berlin has been given a warm if qualified welcome by western representatives.
Ms Marian Harkin of the Council for the West said that the decision to divide the State in two for the next round of EU supports had made a difference of €500 million, or £375 million, to the 13 western, Border and midland counties which still retain full Objective 1 status.
The £400 million secured in headage payments meant farmers in this region would continue to attract a higher level of refunds from Europe, she said, and the IDA would still be able to offer up to 40 per cent grant-aid for inward investment.
However, Ms Harkin warned that the region should still be entitled to its fair share of State investment over the next seven years. "The Taoiseach referred on RTE yesterday morning to `money saved' for the Objective ! counties," she explained.
"This is not `money saved'. This is additional money from the EU. It would be a poor joke if it was seen as a substitute for national funds, and this is yet another reason for the need to have a strong regional structure in place."
The chief executive of the Western Development Commission, Mr Liam Scollan, said the EU package agreed in Berlin represented a "significant achievement" in the circumstances.
"What is now essential, given the limited resources coming from Europe over the next seven years, is that we in Ireland make best use of them, and this will require a clear consensus on the way forward," Mr Scollan said.
The money must be spent wisely, urging regions with specific projects to identify priorities. The Western Development Commission was finalising a detailed and costed plan, which would identify "priority action needs" and "the policies required to make them happen".
This plan, due to be published next month, involves the seven western counties for which it is statutorily responsible: Donegal, Sligo, Roscommon, Leitrim, Galway, Mayo and Clare.
The chairman of the Western Regional Authority, Cllr Willie Burke, said he was very pleased with the outcome, estimating it represented £2.25 billion for the western counties out of a total of £3.4 billion.
"This will address the economic imbalance between east and west," he said, and proved that a regionalisation strategy had worked. "We have secured £0.5 billion more than we would have if we had gone to Europe as one state."
The chief executive of the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation, Mr Joey Murrin, called for political support for increased EU structural funding for the fishing industry.
Referring to the recent BIM plan, which predicted that a doubling of current EU and State investment would yield a 20 per cent increase in jobs in coastal regions, Mr Murrin said the industry was seeking £200 million in EU and Exchequer funding over the next seven years.
"This is not a begging-bowl plea," Mr Murrin said. "The amount of money coming into Ireland's fishing industry from the EU in recent years is dwarfed in comparison to the value of fish taken by other countries from our waters." It is estimated that at least £2 billion worth of fish is being taken from Irish waters by other EU states annually.