Peadar Tóibín
Ceist:321. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Finance the effect that the reduction in Ireland's share of the EU recovery fund will have on the public finances. [16543/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraWednesday, 31 March 2021
Ceisteanna (321, 330)
Mairéad Farrell
Ceist:330. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Finance if Ireland’s allocation of the EU recovery and resilience fund is to be reduced in view of better than expected GDP figures; if so, the total reduction in funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16736/21]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí scríofa
I propose to take Questions Nos. 321 and 330 together.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility is a €672.5bn instrument, made up of €360bn loans and €312.5bn in grants and is the key element of the Next Generation EU / Recovery Plan Package of €750bn (€360bn in loans and €390bn in grants) agreed by the European Council in July 2020.
70% of the total €312.5 billion grants from the Recovery and Resilience Facility are to be committed in the years 2021 and 2022. The 70% amounts are pre-allocated under a statistical methodology taking into account GDP per capita, population and unemployment. (Article 11(1) (a) and Annex II). Ireland’s allocation under the 70% tranche is €853million (2018 prices). This has not changed.
The remaining 30% of grants will be fully committed by the end of 2023, based on a similar formula but replacing the unemployment criterion with GDP loss in 2020-2021 (Article 11(1) (b) and Annex III).
As set out in the final regulation, all Member States’ allocations under the 30% pot are indicative only at this time. The amounts allocated will be based on actual cumulative GDP output from 2020 and 2021, as published in 2023 (Article 11(2)).
There has been no reduction in Ireland’s share of the Recovery and Resilience Facility grant funding. The Irish allocation under the 30% tranche will not be determined until 2023. It may ultimately increase or decrease compared to the current indicative amount. Initial indicative allocations from the 30% pot (€420m – 2018 prices) were based on the Commission’s Summer Economic Forecast. More recent figures (in the region of €68m) are linked to the Commission’s latest (Winter) economic forecast which incorporate a large upward revision to the level of Irish GDP due to the much stronger than anticipated performance in 2020. The final allocation will be determined in 2023, based on actual cumulative GDP output from 2020 and 2021.