Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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438. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if Ireland has requested under article 25(3) of the regulation establishing the Recovery and Resilience Facility to redact information relating to the National Recovery Plan; if so, the nature of such redactions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31020/21]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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On 28 May 2021 Ireland's draft National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) was approved by the Government and submitted to the European Commission. On 1 June 2021, I announced details of the Plan which will enable Ireland to access funding under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

Ireland’s Plan will now be assessed by the European Commission which will, within two months, make a recommendation to the Council of the European Union, on the basis of which implementation of the Plan will commence and EU financial support will start to flow.

Article 25(1) of the RRF Regulation requires the Commission to transmit national plans to the European Parliament and the Council without undue delay. Under Article 25(3), of the Regulation Member States may request the Commission to redact sensitive or confidential information, the disclosure of which would jeopardise public interests of the Member State.

Ireland has not sought to redact information relating to the NRRP under Article 25(3). It has, however, drawn the attention of the Commission to information that is currently commercially sensitive and should therefore only be shared on a confidential basis.

I will be publishing further details of the Plan once the process of approval by the European Union has concluded.