Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein)
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309. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will address the regional inequalities and facilitate the administration of regional funds by regional assemblies and not centralise this administration in a Department or agency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24130/20]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The National Planning Framework (NPF), which is under the aegis of the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, ensures a strong regional dimension in planning for public capital investment priorities. This includes the development of the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies, and their  alignment with the National Development Plan (NDP), which is the Government's Capital Investment Strategy.

With regard to the administration of regional funds by the Regional Assemblies, I understand that the Deputy is referring to the European Regional Development Fund's (ERDF) administration in Ireland. A decision will be made shortly regarding the role of Managing Authorities for the 2021 - 2027 ERDF Operational Programmes. In the meantime, the three Regional Assemblies are playing a very active role in the process for programming the next round of ERDF, in conjunction and cooperation with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.   They are also represented on the Partnership Process Steering Group (PPSG), which guides and advises on the programming of all of the European Structural Investment Fund (ESIF) programmes, through the development process of the Partnership Agreement for the period 2021–2027. 

The Steering Group oversaw the development of a Needs Analysis by Indecon Economic Consultants, which specifically looked at regional development needs.

The Regional Assemblies are also part of a working group which launched a public consultation process to inform the selection of priorities for the use of EU cohesion funding for the next period.  As part of this consultation a webinar was held on the 28th of July, breakout sessions were organised on a regional basis, and included a focus on the main priorities of the individual Regional Spatial and Economic Strategies. The working group is currently preparing a report, the primary purpose of which is to present the findings and analysis from the public consultation submissions, including the qualitative messages from the national workshop event conducted on 28th July. This report, along with the Needs Analysis, adopted by the PPSG in July, will inform the programming for 2021–2027.