Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 July 2013
183. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Finance if he will detail Ireland's contribution to the EU for 2013; how this was calculated and the amount it would have been if redomiciled companies were excluded from our gross national income statistics. [34222/13]
View answerIreland’s contribution to the EU budget is an obligation of EU membership and is a charge on the Central Fund under national legislation. The contribution formula for the EU budget is comprised of Traditional Own Resources – principally customs duties collected by member States on behalf of the EU; a VAT based payment; a residual balancing component paid according to each member State’s share of EU Gross National Income (GNI) and a payment towards a number of rebates for certain member States, also linked to GNI. As of July 1, Ireland has contributed a total of €1,030 million to the European Union budget during 2013. This comprises €96 million in respect of Traditional Own Resources, €140 million in VAT related contributions, €738 million in respect of GNI payments and €56 million in respect of rebates. We are notified on a monthly basis by the European Commission for a call-up of funds under these various headings.
The first preliminary outturn for 2013 Irish GNI is likely to be released by the CSO in March 2014. As is the norm, this will be the first point when data for Ireland’s GNI for 2013 will be available and is provisional as more detailed annual estimates will not be available until June 2014. I understand that the CSO does not intend to produce a quarterly series showing the impact of redomiciled companies on GNI (owing to the volatility around dividend payments by these companies to their shareholders). It is anticipated that the annual impact of the redomiciled companies on GNI will be available in June 2014. In advance of this information, it is not possible to estimate the likely impact from redomiciled companies on the 2013 Irish contribution to the EU budget.
