Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Question 302: To ask the Minister for Finance the funds which Ireland received from the EU in each of the past ten years; the amount Ireland had to pay on behalf of taxpayers here to the EU in each of the same years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22176/05]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish receipts from and payments to the EU budget in the past ten years are detailed in the table below. The table also outlines the net position in relation to Ireland.

As can be inferred from this table, Ireland has contributed some €9.7 billion to the EU budget from 1995 to 2004. During this same period, Ireland received over €27 billion in transfers, giving a net benefit of some €17.3 billion. The table also illustrates that despite Ireland's receipts remaining reasonably static at around €2.7billion per annum, Irish payments to the EU budget have almost doubled over the same period.

Ireland's future net position will obviously depend on the outcome of the current negotiations on the financial perspective for the EU budget for the period 2007-13. However, it can be expected that our payments to the EU budget will continue to rise while our receipts will reduce in future years, reflecting our strong economic growth which has resulted in our becoming one of the more prosperous member states of the Union.