Ireland Tops Cash per Head Income Aid from European Union

national | miscellaneous | opinion/analysis Sunday September 19, 2004 14:50 by Michael Hennigan - Finfacts.oc finfacts at finfacts dot ie 087- 2474328

Despite being one of the richest countries of the European Union, Ireland will continue to receive s

Last June, during the voting on the referendum on citizenship, an exit poll of 3.300 voters which had been commissioned by RTE Radio, found that 36% of yes voters at 166 polling stations agreed that the main reason for their vote was because 'the country is being exploited by immigrants.' Another 27% had agreed with the statement that 'there are too many immigrants in the country.'

It may surprise some of those voters who believe that immigrants (the bulk of whom are here on approved work permits) are costing us lots of money, that we are still receiving large transfers from the European Union.

Other European taxpayers are still funding us, with the largest shares paid by the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. Germany has been the leading contributor to Ireland's net receipts of €34 billion since joining the then European Community in 1973-the amount would be considerably higher if stated in current money values. Today, Germany has many economic problems in particular in the former East Germany where unemployment is 20%.

Only four countries benefited from EU money in 2003- Portugal, Greece, Ireland and Spain - while the rest were net contributors. In terms of cash per head, the funding amounted to a net receipt of €391.70 for each Irish national. At the other of the scale, Dutch, Luxembourg and German nationals pay €120, €125 and €92.7 respectively, while each Briton pays €46.50.

Check out the breakdown of the huge foreign aid received from the Europe since 1973.

Irish politicians used to talk about the obligation of rich countries to help countries on the 'western periphary' of Europe such as Ireland. They sing a different tune today.