Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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233. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform the current and capital projects under the remit of his Department that received EU funding in 2023 and to date in 2024; and the amount of EU funding received per project in each of the years in question, in tabular form. [36665/24]

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR)

As a consequence of the UK’s decision to leave the EU, the EU put in place funding support for Member States to mitigate the resulting impacts, in the form of a Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR).

Ireland’s BAR allocation is €802 million, the largest allocation for any Member State. Ireland has received its share in the form of pre-financing - approximately €361.7m for 2021, €276.7m in 2022, and €163.7m in 2023. In order to be eligible for BAR funding, expenditure must fall within the BAR eligibility period for expenditure that runs from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2023.

Member states are required to submit their final claim to the Commission by 30 September 2024. The application for BAR funding must set out the negative impacts of the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union and how the measures carried out under the Fund alleviate the adverse consequences.

Following the BAR Regulation coming into force in October 2021, the Government allocated specific funding of €389 million in Budgets 2022 and 2023 across a number of sectors. Further to this, officials in my Department have engaged in a review exercise of Brexit related spending outside of that allocated in Budgets 2022 and 2023 which may qualify for inclusion in Ireland’s BAR claim.

The exact composition of Ireland's BAR claim will not be finalised until the claim is submitted to the EU Commission. Once this is finalised, it will be possible to confirm detail in relation to individual projects and final amounts.

National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP)

Ireland will receive approximately €1.15 billion in funding from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) in respect of measures included in our National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). The overall objective of Ireland’s NRRP is to contribute to a sustainable, equitable, green and digital recovery effort, in a manner that complements and supports the Government’s broader recovery efforts.

The Recovery and Resilience Facility is performance-based and is pre-funded through the estimates process and the National Development Plan. RRF allocated funding is then recouped from the EU after the agreed milestones and targets within the Plan have been achieved and verified.

The RRF allocation will be paid to Ireland in five instalments. Following the successful submission of our first payment request, Ireland received €324m in July 2024 from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility.

Further information on the RRF and details of beneficiaries is available here: eufunds.ie/covid/recovery-and-resilience-facility/

European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)

Ireland will receive €396m in ERDF funding during the 2021-2027 programme. While the Minister for Public Expenditure; National Development Plan Delivery and Reform has overall responsibility for the two ERDF Programmes, the Department of Public Expenditure; National Development Plan Delivery and Reform does not make any direct ERDF funding awards, and so does not carry information on individual projects. In addition, ERDF funding is paid by the EU to Ireland subject to evaluation and approval of claims arising from grant awards and associated projects. Claims are currently in the process of submission and evaluation.

The Minister has appointed the Southern Regional Assembly, and the Northern and Western Regional Assembly, as Managing Authorities for the two ERDF Programmes.

The Southern Regional Assembly (SRA), is the Managing Authority for the ERDF co-funded Southern, Eastern and Midland Regional Programme 2021-2027. The SRA publish a list of ERDF grant awards for their ERDF programme on their website in tabular format (CSV file available for download), under the heading “List of Operations/Beneficiaries”, on this webpage: www.southernassembly.ie/eu-programmes/sem2127

The Northern and Western Regional Assembly (NWRA) is the Managing Authority for the ERDF co-funded Northern and Western Regional Programme 2021-2027. The NWRA publish a list of ERDF grant awards for their ERDF programme on their website in tabular format (Excel file available for download), under the heading “Beneficiaries of EU Funding under the Northern and Western Regional Programme”, on this webpage: www.nwra.ie/northern-and-western-regional-programme-2021-2027/.