Ireland will have received €41bn in net receipts from the European Union before becoming a net contributor in 2013.
The Department of Finance Secretary General David Doyle, said on Thursday that Ireland had received €60 billion from the EU since joining in 1973 and had paid back €20 billion so far.
The biggest gain for Ireland has been from the Common Agricultural Policy and in the pre-May 2004 EU 15, Irish net per capita income from the EU budget headed the rankings for many years.
One of Ireland's richest businessmen Larry Goodman, collects more than €500,000 in respect of his 1,600 estate and the amount is payable even if he just watches the grass grow.
Ireland is expected to contribute an estimated net €500 million annually to the EU budget from 2013.
David Doyle gave the data to a Dáil finance committee and said that Ireland received some €2 billion in support from the EU budget last year, but contributed some €1.5 billion.
This means that Ireland was in receipt of some €500 million from the EU budget in 2007, compared with some €1.5 billion just five years ago.
Doyle said that by 2011, the amount which the State receives and contributes to the EU budget is expected to be roughly equal. However, by 2013 Ireland should be a net contributor of some €500 million per year.
More than 80 per cent of the money allocated from the EU budget last year related to agriculture projects.
Doyle said in testimony to the Public Accounts Committee that Ireland received approximately €60 billion in EU support since it joined the European Economic Community in 1973.
But during that period, it has also paid out some €20 billion, leaving net receipts of some €40 billion.
By 2013, the State will have received approximately €72 billion and is expected to have paid out approximately €31 billion.
Commenting on the figures, Doyle said that EU investment in Irish agriculture remains high.
He said that the contribution of the EU to the Irish economy had been "massive" and agreed "absolutely" with the suggestion that there were other non-cash benefits from Irish EU membership.
|
Statistics on
Ireland's Net EU Receipts 1973-2004 |
|
Year |
Receipts from EU budgets
(€ m) |
Payments to EU budgets
(€ m) |
Net EU receipts
(€ m) |
% of GDP/GNI |
|
2004 |
2,813.9 |
1,220.1 |
1593.8 |
1.3% |
|
2003 |
2,690.8 |
1,130.7 |
1,560.1 |
1.4% |
|
2002 |
2,545.0 |
1100.0 |
1,445.0 |
1.5% |
|
2001 |
2,488.8 |
1,220.0 |
1,265.3 |
1.15% |
|
2000 |
2,602.1 |
1,075.0 |
1,527.1 |
1.9% |
|
1999 |
2,678.9 |
1,050.9 |
1,628.0 |
1.9% |
|
1998 |
3,015.9 |
989.4 |
2,026.5 |
2.9% |
|
1997 |
3,179.9 |
652.0 |
2,527.9 |
3.4% |
|
1996 |
2,818.2 |
687.1 |
2,131.1 |
3.8% |
|
1995 |
2,568.9 |
689.2 |
1,879.7 |
4.0% |
|
1994 |
2,338.1 |
641.9 |
1,696.2 |
3.8% |
|
1993 |
2,850.9 |
575.8 |
2,275.1 |
3.8% |
|
1992 |
2,531.9 |
448.7 |
2,083.1 |
5.5% |
|
1991 |
2,794.9 |
442.1 |
2,352.8 |
5.5% |
|
1990 |
2,210.6 |
359.2 |
1,851.4 |
5.4% |
|
1989 |
1,644.7 |
362.6 |
1,282.1 |
4.0% |
|
1988 |
1,474.9 |
314.6 |
1,160.3 |
4.0% |
|
1987 |
1,397.1 |
324.0 |
1,073.1 |
4.0% |
|
1986 |
1,455.9 |
305.1 |
1,150.8 |
4.6% |
|
1985 |
1,433.2 |
270.8 |
1,162.3 |
4.9% |
|
1984 |
1,100.5 |
257.1 |
843.4 |
4.0% |
|
1983 |
924.0 |
234.5 |
689.5 |
3.6% |
|
1982 |
764.4 |
173.6 |
590.9 |
3.5% |
|
1981 |
643.6 |
133.8 |
509.7 |
3.5% |
|
1980 |
711.8 |
112.9 |
598.9 |
5.0% |
|
1979 |
671.8 |
76.9 |
594.9 |
5.9% |
|
1978 |
520.8 |
58.5 |
462.3 |
5.4% |
|
1977 |
346.5 |
28.1 |
318.5 |
4.4% |
|
1976 |
151.7 |
17.0 |
134.7 |
2.3% |
|
1975 |
138.5 |
12.4 |
126.1 |
2.6% |
|
1974 |
85.6 |
7.0 |
78.6 |
2.0% |
|
1973 |
47.1 |
5.7 |
41.4 |
1.2% |
|
1973-2004 |
48,787.0 |
12,657 |
36,130 |
- €36 billion |
