Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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88. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the annual amount allocated under the youth employment initiative each year since it commenced and to date in 2017; the amount spent in each year since it commenced and to date in 2017; the projects that have been allocated funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22632/17]

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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89. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the projects that have been allocated funding under the youth employment initiative; the amount per project, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22633/17]

John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions No. 88 and No. 89 together.

The Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) is one of the main EU financial resources to support the implementation of the EU Youth Guarantee.  It is integrated into European Social Fund (ESF) programming as a dedicated priority axis within the ESF Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning 2014-2020 (PEIL) that was adopted by Commission Decision in February 2015.  The specific YEI allocation for Ireland of €68m (for 2014-15) is matched by equal amounts from our ESF allocation and from the Exchequer, giving an overall allocation of €204m. Seven activities were originally selected for YEI funding and the individual allocations for these activities over 2014/15 are provided in the table.

The YEI activities are fully funded up-front by the Exchequer.  The EU Regulations allow for the 2014/15 allocations to be spent and claimed before the end of 2018.  This timeframe allows Member States to undertake the necessary verification work on claims in accordance with the EU Regulations.  As no ESF claim has been submitted to date no expenditure declarations have been made in relation to the YEI.

The ESF Managing Authority and the Operational Programme Monitoring Committee (PMC) maintain an ongoing overview of the funding allocations under the PEIL and will re-allocate the available funding as required, in accordance with the EU Regulatory provisions. The PMC has agreed in principle to the inclusion of the Community Training Centres, which are funded by the ETBs in consultation with SOLAS, as an approved activity under the YEI with effect from 1 January 2017 with an allocation to be approved following the completion of the current review of allocations.

In relation to ESF receipts, the Regulations provide for initial pre-financing/advances of EU support at 1% (or 1.5% for Member States under financial assistance in 2014 and 2015) of the full programme support, payable for each year from 2014 to 2016, together with annual pre-financing of between 2% and 3% payable from 2016 to 2023.  In May 2015 an amendment to the relevant EU Regulations resulted in an unprecedented increase in the YEI advances to be paid to Member States.  The Commission subsequently released pre-financing payments from the dedicated YEI budget line, worth 30% of the YEI budget, to provide additional financial liquidity to support YEI implementation. However, the relevant Regulations specified that where a Member State did not submit an interim payment application by 23 May 2016 for at least 50% of the additional pre-financing amount, that the Member State must reimburse the Commission the total YEI pre-financing contribution.  The ESF regulations also provide that annual pre-financing for any year in which an interim payment application is not made in that year must also be reimbursed.

As Ireland did not submit an interim YEI payment application, the €19.8m additional pre-financing received was reimbursed to the Commission.  Furthermore, as there was no ESF application made in 2016, the €11.6m annual pre-financing for 2016, including €1.36m for the YEI, will be offset against the 2017 pre-financing due.  The reimbursement of these amounts has not resulted in any loss of EU monies to the Exchequer.