Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 19 April 2023
44. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the rationale for designating the Southern Regional Assembly as the managing authority for the ERDF funding allocated for the eastern and midlands region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18502/23]
View answerNUTs is a classification system created by Eurostat to define territorial units of regional statistics across the European Union. For the 2014-2020 round, European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) allocations were based on two "NUTS 2" regions in Ireland, the Border Midlands and Western region, and the Southern and Eastern region, both of which had a corresponding Regional Assembly. These were involved in the drafting of the 2014-2020 ERDF Operational Programmes, and were the Managing Authorities for the two Programmes.
In 2014, the Local Government Act 2014 led to changes in administrative structures at a local level, and the creation of a third regional Assembly in 2015 called the Eastern and Midlands Regional Assembly (EMRA), in addition to the Northern and Western Regional Assembly (NWRA) and the Southern Regional Assembly (SRA).
While the 2021-2027 ERDF programmes were under development, both the Southern Region and the Eastern and Midlands Region were classified as "more developed" regions, and the Northern and Western region was classified as a “region in transition”.
In 2019, the Department had undertaken a "Review of Structures for the Management of European Regional Development", which looked at a range of options for the 2021-2027 programming round. A Regional Development Model was subsequently chosen which created two ERDF Programmes reflecting the development status of different regions in Ireland. The “region in transition” would be managed by the NWRA, and the two regions designated as 'more developed' would be managed by the SRA with input from the EMRA.
The EMRA was established in 2015, and has limited experience managing ERDF programmes, compared to the other two Regional Assemblies, who have managed EU programmes for over 20 years. Taking that into account, the opportunity to work with the SRA will enable the EMRA to gain knowledge in this area. Additionally, for the 2021 to 2027 period, the EMRA has been designated as Managing Authority for a separate fund - the Just Transition Fund.
