Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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72. To ask the Minister for Finance the payments by the Exchequer to the European Union in each of the years since 1973 and to date in 2017; the receipts by the exchequer from the European Union for each of the years in the same period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40025/17]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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EU Budget payments and public sector receipt data are published annually by the Department of Finance in the Budget Statistics publication. The Budget Statistics, which go back to 1973, can be found on the Department of Finance website. For ease of reference, Ireland's receipts from and contributions to the EU Budget are set out in the following table:

* The EU also makes some payments directly to beneficiaries, which do not appear in these public sector receipts (e.g.Research Funding).

Ireland's contribution to the EU budget in 2016 was c. €2,023 million. In relation to receipts for 2016, a final outturn will form part of the Budget Statistics report which is due to be published in the Autumn.

At the time of Budget 2017 my Department  forecasted that our contribution to the EU budget will be c. €2,400 million in 2017. However, this forecast is contingent on a number of variables, including the size of the overall EU budget for the year and other EU budget operational developments which will only emerge as the year progresses.