Ireland to get €14bn from EU’s €862bn budget

IRELAND will receive over €14 billion from the European Union’s €862bn budget over seven years, despite being one of the bloc’s wealthiest members.

The deal completed in the early hours of Saturday morning in Brussels will put off the date when the country receives more from the EU than it pays to it, possibly to 2012.

It also saw British Prime Minister Tony Blair having to concede more of the rebate than he had wanted and giving way on not changing the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) before 2014.