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Ireland’s economic policies helped the country grow until 2002 without the help of the European Union, a UKIP MEP and former European Commission chief accountant has claimed.

Speaking at the launch of the No to Lisbon 2 campaign in Dublin today, Marta Andreasen said she was dismissed from her former job for going public with concerns about accounting systems.

“I have seen what happens within the walls of the European Union and out of that experience I wouldn’t like my children to be ruled by this political elite in Brussels,” she said.

Ms Andreasen, an Argentinian-born Spaniard who was elected for UKIP in the last European Union elections, said European citizens should be able to see that their taxes were properly managed.

“Ireland has had many economic policies that have helped the country grow until 2002 without the help of the EU,” she said.

Ms Andreason said the EU was giving “no help at all” in the current economic crisis. She said the Irish people had been net receivers of EU funds for a long time.

“But now the subsidies are going away. And you know what? They are going to the Eastern countries,” she said. “And the factories are also going to the Eastern countries. So when you are losing your jobs remember it’s the factories going to the Eastern countries as well.”

She also said most EU subsidies were paid to the wrong person for the wrong purpose.