Proposal to unlock €98m in EU aid

EXTRA EU aid totalling €98 million could be unlocked for Ireland by a proposal to increase the Brussels funding contribution to projects in areas such as infrastructure and rural development.

EU Regional Policy Commissioner Johannes Hahn has put forward the plan to ease rules for giving funds to six member states in EU or International Monetary Fund rescue programmes — Greece,Ireland, Portugal, Hungary, Latvia and Romania.

Because of austerity drives in these countries, they have been less able to come up with their share of funding for EU-financed projects.