Vol. 505 No. 4
13 Mr. Flanagan asked the Minister for Finance his estimate of Ireland's contribution to the EU in each of the next three years; and the estimated inflow of EU funds on a programme by programme basis for these years. [13831/99]
Ireland's contribution to the EU in respect of the years 2000, 2001 and 2002 is estimated as follows; 2000, £788 million, 2001, £796 million and 2002, £829 million. This is based on the current "Own Resources" decision which is due to be revised with effect from 1 January 2002.
It is not possible at this juncture to give precise estimates on a year by year basis of Ireland's receipts from the EU for the period to 2002. Ireland's estimated allocation under the Structural and Cohesion Funds for the period 2000-06, arising from the Berlin Summit, amounts to approximately £3.4 billion. This figure includes an estimate for headage payments receipts. These receipts will be funded from the agriculture heading of the EU budget in the next financial perspective, whereas they are currently funded from the Structural and Cohesion Funds heading. The level of transfers to Ireland under the CAP is estimated to be in the region of £10 billion over the period 2000-06, although this figure is by its nature tentative, given the dependence of CAP receipts on developments in the marketplace over the next seven years.
Other than some carry-overs under the existing Community Support Framework, the inflow of Structural and Cohesion Funds either on a year by year or on a programme by programme basis will not be finalised until the completion of the National Development Plan and its approval by the European Commission in the form of the Community Support Framework. Preparation of the National Development Plan, NDP, 2000-2006 is ongoing and the current aim is, if possible, to finalise the plan before the end of July.
Notwithstanding that a precise profile of Ireland's EU receipts out to 2002 is not available, it is clear that Ireland will remain a substantial net beneficiary over these years, and that over the whole period of the next financial perspective Ireland's EU receipts will significantly exceed our EU contributions.
The Minister's reply was like one of those answers written to confuse. What are the trends? Obviously our contribution is going up and our receipts are coming down. What is the margin between income and outflows at this stage? How does it go for the next five years?
I do not have that information with me. I gave that information in a recent reply and it was definitely in the public domain coming up to the Berlin Summit. The question asked today was to ascertain the estimate of the Irish contribution in the next three years and the estimated inflow of funds in the same period. I will get the information for the Deputy. From my recollection during the negotiations, on a per capita basis we were way above the largest net beneficiary of the EU primarily because of CAP receipts. Graphs were produced coming up to the Berlin Summit and discounting CAP receipts there was a fairly even spread across members on a per capita basis.
The question specifically asked the Minister to set out the estimated inflow on a programme by programme basis. I understand he is not in a position to do that this afternoon and, presumably, will not be until the national plan is published. However, will the national plan break down the inflow on a programme by programme basis? Given that the Minister has advice available to him from the ESRI in relation to the national plan, I invite him to comment on the suggestion that expenditure on employment support and tourism support will be reduced.
The production of the national plan will be stage one. Stage two will be on a programme by programme basis when we devise the operational programmes. One should be able to deduce the broad figures from the national plan and the programmes will follow afterwards.
The proposals put forward by the ESRI form part of the Government's deliberations, together with various submissions from regional authorities, other experts and trade unions. We have met over the past two weeks with the various pillars of the partnership process. Two weeks ago I attended a seminar in a Dublin hotel at which at these people were represented. That will all be taken into account in drawing up the national development plan.
Will the Minister give a breakdown of the funding for Objective One areas and areas in transition over that period?
These figures have been spoken about in the media since the Berlin Summit. The figure for the Border, midlands and west regions is about £1 billion and the figure for the rest of the country is £1.4 billion, a total of £2.4 billion. I can get the details later. About £440 million will come from Cohesion Funding and roughly £118 million from Community initiatives. The balance will come from the change in the agricultural receipts. That is the basic breakdown but I will send the Deputy the details.
