§ Lord Stoddart of Swindonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the latest annual figure for the net financial benefit received by the Irish Republic from the European Community, and what proportion of that is met through the net contributions of United Kingdom taxpayers to the European Community budget.
§ The Minister of State, Department of Social Security (Lord Mackay of Ardbrecknish)According to the Court of Auditors' Report on 1994, the net financial benefit to the Irish Republic from the EC was 1,752 million ecu (some £1,360 million) in that year.
There is no widely recognised methodology which produces a simple answer to the second part of this Question. On the assumptions, however, that member states contribute to all expenditure categories according to their share of Community revenue, and the Community funding and expenditure are, as far as possible, scored to the budget to which they relate, the proportion of the Irish Republic's net receipt since 1994 financed by UK taxpayers was some 6 per cent. This is a somewhat smaller percentage share than in the two previous years, when the share was in the range 13–14 per cent., due to the substantial underspending in 1994 affecting the UK's relative share of contributions with respect to the other contributing member states.