Ireland Gets Only €2 Billion From €750 Billion EU Recovery Fund, Whilst Irelands National Debt Is Set To Hit €240 Billion This Year
Aontú Leader & Meath West TD Peadar Tóibín has hit out at the meagre €2 billion Ireland is set to receive from the EU Recovery Fund
An Teachta Tóibín: “Time after time, Ireland doesn’t get a fair shake from Brussels no matter how much Irish taxpayers pay into the European pot. Despite Irish taxpayers now being shackled to contributing €19 billion to the EU’s covid recovery fund for the coming decades, yet our return amounts to little more than 0.2% of the entire fund. How is this fair? FF/FG subjected the country to several of the longest lockdowns in the world let alone Europe, increasing inequality and crippling our economy. Yet we are given one of the lowest amounts to recover from the pandemic! Portugal received €2.2 billion in pre-financing alone. All the while, our national debt is set to hit €240 billion this year – indebting future generations, much of which was incurred when we were browbeaten into bailing out European banks. We are paying billions of euro on interest on one of the largest debts for any country per capita in the world in large part due to the decisions of the EU during the last crash. The instinct of the Irish government to be the best boy in eth EU class must change once and for all. We must stand up to Brusselsl!”
“From the Brexit Recovery Fund, Ireland – the most at risk country from Brexit – only received 20% of the fund, before this was challenged by other European countries. Irish fishermen meanwhile were sold out at the eleventh hour by Brussels and Dublin as the sacrificial lamb to secure a Brexit deal with Boris Johnson. Last summer, Ireland was the second highest per capita contributor to the EU budget, secured no rebate on contributions, and failed to prevent cuts to CAP and Pillar II funding. Or how about the European Commission’s decision to impose a hard border upon Ireland, in its tit-for-tat with the Tories – without so much as a call beforehand to the Taoiseach? Ireland is often an afterthought to Brussels, so it is no surprise at the crumbs we are given.”
