asked the Minister for Finance the total amount for 1975 of (a) grants and loans approved by the European Community to this country and (b) contributions made by this country to the European Community.
Written Answers. - EEC Grants and Loans.
97.
I would refer the Deputy to annex II to the sixth report on "Developments in the European Communities" laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas in December last, which contains a summary of subsidies, grants and loans approved by, and contributions to, the European Communities in respect of 1975. In this context a distinction cannot be made between subsidies and grants.
The figure shown in Table I of the annex for the total of subsidies and grants approved in respect of 1975 is £118.557 million. However, information since received indicates that the total amount of subsidies and grants approved in respect of 1975 is now £119.394 million. The increase is due to further amounts of £0.8 million approved under the heading "European Social Fund" and £0.040 million under the heading "Moneys for miscellaneous studies and surveys carried out by Irish agencies for the Commission". The revised total also takes account of a marginal adjustment of the amount for research and investment projects viz. from £0.109 million to £0.106 million.
I should like to emphasise that, due to Community procedures, it is not unusual for decisions on applications submitted in a particular year, or the final adjustments to amounts approved, to be delayed until later years. As a result, the figures quoted above will not necessarily represent the final amount of Community grants and subsidies for 1975.
The figure shown in Table II for loans approved from Community sources remains unchanged at £23.21 million in respect of 1975.
With regard to (b) of the Deputy's question, Table III in annex II contains an estimate of the total contributions made by this country to the European Communities in respect of 1975, viz. £10.493 million. With the exception of our contribution to the budget of the Communities, the amounts actually paid were as set out in the table. Due to the procedures for implementing the budget, however, our actual net contribution to the budget in 1975, at £9.76 million, was less than the estimated figure of £10.070 million shown in the table: this is due to the fact that certain expenditure appropriate to the 1975 budget will not fall to be met until this year. The final figure in respect of our contributions to the 1975 budget will not, therefore, be known until the closure of accounts later this year.