Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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80. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the status of plans by Ireland to maximise the European Structural and Investment Funds for the coming period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27672/20]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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81. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the level of co-financing that will be available under the next round of the European Structural and Investment Funds for each region in Ireland. [27673/20]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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83. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the estimated European Structural and Investment Funds that will be available to Ireland over the coming period; and the grounds on which funding will be distributed among the regions. [27675/20]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 80, 81 and 83 together.

In July 2020, the European Council agreed a new position on the Multiannual Financial Framework, which sets out the budget of the European Union for the seven-year period from 2021 to 2027. Subject to agreement with the European Parliament, the European Commission has communicated revised allocations for each Member State from the European Structural and Investment Funds based on the revised funding under the Cohesion heading in the MFF.

In 2018 prices, Ireland’s allocation is expected to be €451 million for the European Social Fund, €351 million for the European Regional Development Fund and €258 million for European Territorial Cooperation (which includes the allocation for the PEACE Plus Programme), for a total of €1.06 billion.

The Commission has not yet provided the composition of this funding by Ireland’s three regions. The final breakdown will be based on an allocation formula agreed for each category of region as part of the MFF and set out in proposed Common Provisions Regulation (COM (2018) 375) based on population, GDP/GNI and a number of other socio-economic, migration and environmental indicators. The exact allocation method depends upon the category of region being supported. Ireland has two “more developed” regions and one “transition” region – the Northern and Western Region.

This EU funding must be co-financed by domestic sources at a rate dependent upon the category of region. This rate is the percentage of the total programme that the EU funding makes up (i.e. the remainder must be funding from domestic sources). For “more developed” regions, the rate is 40% and for “transition” regions it is 60%. Thus, the final size of Ireland’s 2021-2027 Funds will be determined when the breakdown of the allocation between Ireland’s regions is confirmed.