Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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234. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the value of regional aid granted under the regional aid guidelines granted by his Department or agencies under the remit of his Department in each of the past seven years; the value by county or lowest possible NUTS level over the period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30899/20]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, 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’.

Ireland, as a whole, has not granted any aid under the Regional Aid Guidelines. This is not unusual and is the situation in most Member States. Instead, Irish granting authorities, including those aligned with my Department, avail of Regional Aid under the Block Exemption Regulations.

I refer the Deputy to the recent response to this query provided by An Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, which returned details for the agencies which are now aligned with my Department.