Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 September 2020
123. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the value of regional aid granted under the regional aid guidelines in each of the past seven years; the value by county or lowest possible NUTS level over the period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25279/20]
View answerThe EU Regional Aid Guidelines (RAGS) provides for enhanced rates of State Aid in the least economically developed areas of each Member State. The 2014-2020 Regional Aid Guidelines entered into force on 01 July 2014. Under the terms of the 2014 -2020 RAGS, regions covering 51.28% of Ireland’s population are designated as ‘assisted areas’.
Ireland, as a whole, has not granted any aid under the Regional Aid Guidelines. This is not unusual and is the situation in most Member States. Instead, Irish granting authorities, including those under the remit of my Department, avail of Regional Aid under the Block Exemption Regulations. The Block Exemption Regulations are a mechanism to grant pre-approved aid under various categories in a simplified and efficient manner. Member States are encouraged to use this mechanism and as a result, 97% of new aid in EU is now granted under the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER).
I can only provide information on aid granted by the enterprise agencies under the remit of my Department, as individual Granting Authorities are responsible for reporting on Schemes they operate. It is also not possible to provide information by county or NUTS, as all aid is reported at aggregate level for a Scheme under the GBER.
The value of aid granted under the Regional Aid (Industry and Services) Scheme General Block Exemption Regulation 2014-2020, which is the umbrella Scheme for the Enterprise Agencies of my Department to grant Regional aid under the GBER, has been as follows:
|
Year |
2014 |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
|
Value of aid in EUR Million |
Scheme launched |
€6.068m |
€14.260m |
€28.9m |
€32.78m |
€47.79m |
Not yet available |
