Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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85. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if regions with the status of assisted regions under the EU regional aid guidelines will continue to qualify post-2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21729/20]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The EU Regional Aid Guidelines (RAGS) provides for enhanced rates of State Aid in the least economically developed areas of each Member State.

The 2014-2020 Regional Aid Guidelines entered into force on 01 July 2014. Under the terms of the 2014 -2020 RAGS, regions covering 51.28% of Ireland’s population are designated as ‘assisted areas’.

As part of the State Aid Modernisation process, the Regional Aid Guidelines are due to expire at the end of 2020. However, in July of this year, in order to provide predictability and legal certainty, while preparing for a future update of the State aid rules, the Commission extended the period of application of certain guidelines, in consultation with Member States. This included the extension of the Regional Aid Guidelines until the end of 2021.

The extension of those guidelines will allow the Commission to finalise the evaluation of those rules together with other State aid rules adopted as part of the State Aid Modernisation initiative.

The regions designated as ‘assisted areas’ under the revised rules will be based on a Regional Aid Map, to be developed and notified by the Member State. The purpose of this Map is to support the economic development of disadvantaged regions in all Member States. The current Regional Aid Map has been extended for a year to the end of 2021 to allow for the adoption of updated Regional Aid Guidelines and the development of this new map.

The Commission is currently undertaking a public consultation on the Regional Aid Guidelines with a view to the adoption of updated guidelines in early 2021. While this is a public consultation, the State Aid Unit of my Department are coordinating inputs from other Government Departments and its Agencies and will present these as a consolidated position at the 1st Multilateral Meeting on Regional Aid Guidelines in early October 2020.

Following this, the detailed process of developing the new map will commence.