Irexit campaigner Hermann Kelly has criticized the financial burden Brussels has imposed on Ireland as Dublin begins to count the cost of joining the European Union. The chairman of the Irish Freedom Party believes Ireland can no longer afford to remain in the bloc now that the country has gone from being a beneficiary to a net contributor to the EU budget.

Mr Kelly told Express.co.uk: ‘Ireland has been a net contributor to the EU budget for [2014]

“Last year, the last three years, our contribution is more than 2.5 billion euros, our net contribution, around 700 million euros a year to the EU budget, for the recovery fund of the EU for Ireland, we get around EUR 1 billion in return.

“But to get that, we have to get that 18.7 billion liability, it’s the worst deal any country in Europe has gotten.

“And there are very rich and fertile sea waters in Ireland, with 200 nautical miles west and south of Ireland, which are plundered every year by EU boats from Spain, France and of Portugal, etc. and Irish fishermen have remained for the past 50 years, with only 15 per cent of the catch in Irish waters.”

JUST IN: BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg lays out Sue Gray’s ‘mind-blowing’ ‘most serious’ discovery!

“So I believe, particularly with the carbon tax scheme that has been imposed on Ireland by the EU, that ordinary people now have to pay $3 billion a year in carbon tax.

“At the same time, due to the influence of the EU on the OECD and the corporate tax system, Ireland will lose €2-3bn a year in corporate tax.

“So I don’t believe we can afford the EU anymore.

“We are a very indebted country, we have a public debt of 64 billion euros, I believe, or 50,000 euros for every man, woman and child in the country, so we are very indebted.”

Speaking in the upper house of the Irish parliament, Mr Coveney said: “If a political decision is taken by a minister in Northern Ireland to stop all checks at ports on goods crossing the Irish Sea, entering Northern Ireland is indeed a breach of international law.

“And I remind everyone that the protocol is part of an international agreement.

“It has been agreed and ratified by the UK and the EU. And its implementation is not just part of an international treaty, but part of international law and therefore to deliberately frustrate obligations under this treaty, I think it would indeed be a very serious matter.

“It’s basically about playing politics with legal obligations. And I certainly hope that doesn’t happen, as it has been threatened.”