The Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) is integrated into European Social Fund (ESF) programming as a dedicated priority axis within the ESF Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning 2014-2020 (PEIL) that was adopted by Commission Decision in February 2015. The YEI allocation for Ireland of €68m is matched by equal amounts from our ESF allocation and from the Exchequer, giving an overall allocation of €204m.
The ESF Regulations provide for initial pre-financing/advances of EU support at 1% (or 1.5% for Member States under financial assistance in 2014 and 2015) of the full programme support, payable for each year from 2014 to 2016, together with annual pre-financing of between 2% and 3% payable from 2016 to 2023. In May 2015 an amendment to the relevant EU Regulations resulted in an unprecedented increase in the YEI advances to be paid to Member States. The Commission subsequently released pre-financing payments from the dedicated YEI budget line, worth 30% of the YEI budget, to provide additional financial liquidity to support YEI implementation. However, the relevant Regulations specified that where a Member State did not submit an interim payment application by 23 May 2016 for at least 50% of the additional pre-financing amount, that the Member State must reimburse the Commission the total YEI pre-financing contribution. The ESF regulations also provide that annual pre-financing for any year in which an interim payment application is not made in that year must also be reimbursed.
As work on the designation of the relevant ESF authorities, including the provision of a national computerised accounting and information system for EU funds to meet the 2014-2020 functionality requirements is continuing, Ireland did not comply with the requirement to submit an interim YEI payment application by the due date. Accordingly, €19.8m additional pre-financing received was reimbursed to the Commission. Furthermore, as there was no ESF application made in 2016, the €11.6m annual pre-financing for 2016, including €1.36m for the YEI, will be offset against the 2017 pre-financing due.
The reimbursement of these amounts has not resulted in any loss of EU monies to the Exchequer. The YEI funding is available for drawdown before the end of 2018 and while a claim for funding has not been made to date it is expected that the funding will be fully drawn down. The ESF Managing Authority and the Operational Programme Monitoring Committee (PMC) maintain an ongoing overview of the funding allocations under the PEIL and will re-allocate the available funding as required, in accordance with the EU Regulatory provisions. The PMC has agreed in principle to the inclusion of the Community Training Centres, which are funded by the ETBs in consultation with SOLAS, as an approved activity under the YEI with effect from 1 January 2017. The other actions originally selected for YEI funding, are the Back to Work Enterprise Allowance; JobBridge; JobsPlus Incentive Scheme; Tús; Youthreach, Social Inclusion and Community Activation Programme and Momentum. As the activities concerned are fully funded up-front by the Exchequer there is no resulting reduction or delay in the funding available to those activities.
