Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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27. To ask the Minister for Finance the likely impact of the revised 2015 GDP figures on Ireland's EU budget contribution in 2017; the likely net position in relation to EU funding at the end of 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33876/16]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Member State contributions to the EU Budget are based upon a formula which includes Traditional Own Resources (customs duties), a VAT-based payment and a residual balancing component paid in accordance with each Member State's share of EU Gross National Income (GNI). On 12th July 2016, the CSO released updated National Income and Expenditure (NIE) Accounts for 2015 which included a very significant upward revision in Ireland's GNI for 2015. As mentioned above, GNI is an important input into the calculation of Ireland's EU Budget contributions, representing c.75% of our total contributions.

Our initial estimate for the impact of the CSO revision on our EU Budget contribution for 2017 was c. €280m when allowing for all factors. However, given the recent revisions to Irish GNI for 2017 announced at the time of Budget 2017, the final figure may be lower.  The final impact of the contribution is dependent on a number of variables, including the size of the overall EU budget for 2017, GNI movements in other Member States and other EU budget operational developments.

As published in Budget 2017, we currently forecast that Ireland will make a contribution of €2,400m to the EU budget in 2017. Our final net position for the year will only be known in mid-2018 when the Commission publishes its financial report for 2017.