Ireland submits its first payment request for €324 million under the Recovery and Resilience Facility

The Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, Paschal Donohoe T.D., has announced that Ireland submitted its first payment request under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

Ireland will receive approximately €914 million under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) funded by the RRF. The overall objective of Ireland’s NRRP is to contribute to a sustainable, equitable, green and digital recovery effort, in a manner that complements and supports the Government’s broader recovery efforts.

The RRF allocation will be paid to Ireland in instalments. The drawdown of payments under this performance-based Facility is contingent on the timely delivery of the milestones and targets by each accountable Department and on providing the supporting evidence to this effect. This first payment request relates 36 milestones and 5 targets and amounts to €324m.

These include investments in jobs and skills through the work placement experience programme, the commencement of retrofit works under the Public Sector Buildings’ Energy Retrofit Programme, the signature of the contract for the building of the Government data centre, the connection of schools to the broadband network and work to enable the future electrification of public transport in Cork.

This payment request also includes a series of reforms including reform on climate action, addressing the digital divide through a new digital strategy for schools and providing disadvantaged students with ICT equipment, reducing regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship by introducing an ‘SME test’ in new legislation, and also a suite of reforms in areas such as pensions, housing and health.

The Minister welcomes the submission of the Ireland’s first payment request following the extensive engagement with the Commission during the informal co-operation process.

Minister Donohoe said “I am delighted that we have progressed implementation of our National Recovery and Resilience Plan to the stage where we can formally submit our first payment request under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). This follows extensive engagement between Departments across Government and the EU Commission during the informal cooperation process.

The RRF is the main pillar of the European recovery plan, NextGenerationEU, designed to provide financial aid to Member States in order to combat the economic and social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and make the European economy more resistant to future shocks. It is a concrete symbol of European solidarity.”

The Commission will now assess the request and send its preliminary assessment of Ireland’s fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the European Council’s Economic and Financial Committee.