Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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121. To ask the Minister for Finance the impact Ireland's revised GDP growth figure for 2015 will have on the financial contribution to the EU; when the final figure will be known and will fall due; if any additional payment will have an impact on the resources available for budget 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23884/16]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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168. To ask the Minister for Finance the impact revised 2015 growth figures will have on Ireland's EU budget contribution obligations; the total amount due to be contributed by Ireland in 2016; if this will have any impact on the anticipated fiscal space for 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24248/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 121 and 168 together.

The latest estimates of fiscal space available for Budget 2017 were set out in the Summer Economic Statement (SES).

The significant revision to 2015 GDP by the Central Statistics Office is not expected to materially change the fiscal space of just under €1 billion for 2017 set out in the Summer Economic Statement (SES). This is because almost all the factors used to calculate the fiscal space for a particular year are fixed on the basis of the European Commission's spring forecasts in the previous year.  The Commission adopts this approach to 'fixing' the inputs in order to provide ex ante clarity and certainty to Member States in relation to how their budgetary plans will be assessed.

This means that for 2017 almost all of the inputs to the expenditure benchmark calculation of fiscal space were fixed on the basis of the Commission's spring 2016 forecasts, which were published before the significant revisions to the GDP figures were made by the Central Statistics Office. 

My Department currently estimates the impact of the CSO revision on our EU Budget contribution for 2017 at around €380m. However, other mitigating factors mean the overall increase in the EU budget contribution is now estimated to be in the order of €280m when compared to the forecast underlying the SES.

It must be emphasised that the final impact depends on a number of variables including the size of the overall EU budget for 2017 (which is not due to be agreed until November 2016), GNI movements in other EU Member States and other EU budget operational developments. My officials will continue to liaise with the European Commission in order to achieve greater clarity on the exact contribution.