Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The EU's recovery and resilience facility will make some €724 billion available to member states in the form of grants and loans to help repair the economic and social damage brought about by the pandemic and to make post-Covid European economies and societies more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the green and digital transitions. Ireland will receive almost €1 billion in grants over the lifetime of the facility. In order to access this funding, the Government developed the national recovery and resilience plan, which has a total value of €990 million and sets out the reforms and investments to be supported by the facility. An implementing body is being established in my Department to drive progress and delivery of the plan.

The overall objective of the plan is to contribute to a sustainable, equitable, green and digital recovery in a manner that complements and supports the Government's broader recovery effort. It is based on 16 investment projects and nine reform measures aimed at advancing the green transition, accelerating and expanding digital reforms and transformation and driving social and economic recovery and job creation.

All recovery and resilience plans are required to address all or a significant subset of the economic and social challenges outlined in country-specific recommendations under the European semester process for 2019 and 2020. Ireland's plan contains nine reform measures which address nine important areas: climate action; base broadening; the digital divide; reducing regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship; aggressive tax planning; pensions reform; social and affordable housing; anti-money laundering; and healthcare.

We submitted our draft plan to the European Commission in May. It was endorsed by the Commission in July and approved by the Council of Ministers in September. It will now be the subject of a financing agreement between the Commission and Ireland. Once the financing agreement has been signed, the focus will be on implementation of the plan over the period to 2026. We are required to report regularly to the Commission on the achievement of agreed milestones and targets to enable the drawdown of funding each year over the course of the plan. I expect that drawdown will commence this year.

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