Mr. Tony Murphy:

On a personal level, we have seen the impact of cohesion in many member states. It is also a way to legitimise the EU at local level because people see the benefits. It is a really important policy area. On the money, from Ireland's perspective, the absorption rate is that it tends to absorb all of its budget – that is the normal budget. The question of the RRF is interesting because we will see what will happen. The drawdown generally, not just for Ireland, is that around 60% of the grants have been drawn down. They are all supposed to be drawn down by the middle of 2026, so there is less than a year left. Let us see what happens. I am sure the Commission will come up with some creative way of extending the money.

Some member states would say "so be it". Some of the big payers would say that if money is not used it should be taken back. These plans took a lot of time. As Senator Rabbitte said, some of them have been renegotiated. It is a huge process to renegotiate them. One of our issues with the RRF is that it was supposed to be less bureaucratic but if we go around the member states they say it is worse and there is more bureaucracy involved for them.