For £5 a year, I've decided to remain in this European club

I have to say I’m not convinced those on Leave have made a genuine case for persuading me that Northern Ireland will be better off outside the EU.

Over this campaign I’ve looked at the facts:

Northern Ireland was a net recipient of EU funding by £74 million in 2015. This means NI is and has been a net beneficiary of EU membership.

I’ve heard that Northern Ireland benefitted from over €90 million under the various Framework Programmes for Research and Innovation between 2000 and 2013, plus all the other funding projects like the Siege Museum in Londonderry which received significant grant assistance from the European Union.

So, now I have to decide has the EU benefitted me?

I looked at my P60 for last year. Through my taxes, my money went into 12 different sectors. At the bottom of this list, I contributed £5 towards the EU through my taxes in 2015.

I spent that in an hour in the pub on Saturday night.

For that £5, I have taken advantage of freedom of movement by living and working in Poland and France. I have also a good friend from Poland who works hard in a NI hospital here. We got a play produced for Holocaust Memorial Day in Belfast this year. I visit my Goddaughter in France often without the need for visas. I am also a keen birder and am looking forward to visiting the RSPB NI Seabird Centre in Rathlin Island with work made possible by an investment of over £600,000 thanks to funding from the European Union’s INTERREG IVA Programme. I also hope to use the new Enterprise train which has received £12.2 million funding also from the INTERREG Programme.

So, the EU has benefitted me personally, and I believe NI as a whole, and for that reason, I have decided to vote Remain on Thursday.

Ciaran Hanna, Wellwood Street, Belfast