Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 71: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the levels of funding received from the EU and EEC by Ireland since 1973 to date in 2008; the level of contributions by Ireland to the EU and EEC over the same period; the net balance presently between funding received and Irish contributions and projections for these receipts and payments up to 2020; and when Ireland will become a net contributor. [8361/08]

Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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Since joining the Community in 1973 to the end of the financial year 2007, Ireland has received euro 59.9 billion in payments and made contributions to the EU Budget amounting to euro 19.5 billion. Thus in overall terms Ireland has been a net beneficiary from EU funding to the tune of around euro 40.5 billion. Table 1 sets out information for each of the years since 1973. It should be noted that the receipt figures for 2006 and 2007 are estimates.

The current Financial Framework for the EU Budget, agreed by the European Council in December 2005, covers the period 2007-2013. While it is difficult to predict at this stage, Ireland is expected to become a net contributor in the second half of the financial period 2007-2013, with Ireland's receipts expected to exceed payments by a small margin over the period as a whole.

The difficulties in forecasting Ireland's cash flow from the EU stem mostly because the Financial Framework, a political agreement by all Member States, provides the overall context and ceilings for the given multi-annual financial period, but it is the annual budget procedure that determines the level of spending in any one year for each EU measure. It should be borne in mind that various factors impact on the outcome of the annual EU Budget, for example the drawdown capacity of all Member States. While programmes can be committed to the full ceiling, in any given year payment claims by Member States can be much less, and the balance then falls to later years. This is difficult to predict.

For the post-2013 period it can be expected that Ireland will become a substantial net contributor to the EU Budget. At this stage it is impossible to predict the actual outcome of the next political agreement on the Financial Framework for post-2013, not least because the agreement reached on the current framework for 2007 to 2013 includes a commitment to undertake a comprehensive review of the EU Budget. The review will cover all aspects of EU expenditure and revenue, including the future of the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP).