Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 23 November 2023

Public Accounts Committee

Appropriation Accounts 2022
Vote 45 - Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science
Financial Statements 2022: National Training Fund
Report on the Accounts of the Public Services 2022
Chapter 19: National Training Fund

9:30 am

Dr. Deirdre Lillis:

I do not think so. My understanding is that they are separate funds. I know there is a link between them in some parts of it. This specific issue, I think, was linked to the Covid-19 pandemic and how the EU processed payments that we submitted to it. It was also the tail-end of the last ESF programme, the programme for employability, inclusion and learning, PEIL. Some 97% of that had been drawn down and we were into the movement between the previous programme and the new programme, the employment, inclusion, skills and training, EIST, programme which is from 2021 to 2027.