Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 July 2023
220. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to provide a full list of the individual projects/schemes funded under the Brexit Adjustment Reserve Fund spend of €15 million by his Department; the amount of funding allocated in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34366/23]
View answer221. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to provide a full list of the individual projects/schemes funded under the Brexit Adjustment Reserve Fund spend of €2.2 million by his Department; the amount of funding allocated in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34369/23]
View answer222. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to provide a full list of the individual projects/schemes funded under the Brexit Adjustment Reserve Fund spend of €21.5 million by his Department; the amount of funding allocated in each case; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34371/23]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 220, 221 and 222 together.
As set out in the response to the Deputy’s recent questions on this matter, the exact composition of Ireland's Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) claim will not be finalised until the claim is submitted in September 2024. My Department continues to review and assess all spending identified as Brexit-related for inclusion in the final BAR claim. As this work is ongoing, and as further funding can be considered for allocation during the remaining months of 2023, it is not possible at this time to confirm individual projects or final amounts of expenditure in any sector that will be included in the BAR claim.
The European Union’s Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) provides support to counter the adverse economic, social, territorial, and environmental consequences of the withdrawal of the UK from the European Union. The government has made significant allocations across a range of sectors both before the Regulation came into effect, including prior to the BAR eligibility period, as well as since the BAR regulation came into force in October 2021.
In order to be eligible for BAR funding, the expenditure must fall within the BAR eligibility period for expenditure which runs from the 1st January 2020 to 31st December 2023. Following the BAR regulation in October 2021, specific BAR funding of €389 million was provided in Budgets 2022 and 2023 across a number of impacted sectors in order to mitigate those adverse effects of Brexit and to adapt to regulatory changes.
Further to these allocations, officials in my Department are currently engaging in a review exercise of all Brexit related spending, from the 1st of January 2020 to the end of December 2023, for possible inclusion in Ireland’s BAR claim to the EU Commission in September 2024. This involves engaging with Departments on expenditure since 2020 outside of that allocated under Budgets 2022 and 2023 which may qualify for inclusion in the BAR claim. A figure of approximately €0.7 billion has been identified in this regard. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine; the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment; and Revenue are likely to account for a significant amount of that €0.7 billion figure.
