Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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173. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform when the remaining allocations from the Brexit adjustment reserve for 2022 will be made; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26251/22]

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The allocation of resources from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve is aligned with the annual Estimates process, which has been the vehicle for allocating Brexit resources since the UK referendum on EU membership in 2016. Budget 2022 announced that around €500 million of the overall BAR allocation will be made available as a first tranche of funding, with the remainder available in 2023.

Areas for funding under the Reserve that have been identified include: enterprise supports; measures to support fisheries and coastal communities; targeted supports for the agri-food sector; reskilling and retraining; and checks and controls at ports and airports.

To allow Departments to proceed with programmes to be funded under the Reserve, some €54 million was allocated as initial funding in the Revised Estimates for Public Services 2022.

Initial allocations were made to the Department of Further & Higher Education, Research, Innovation & Science (€14.5 million) for the Skillnet Digital Skills Programme and Erasmus after Brexit initiatives; the Office of Public Works (€1.8 million) to support their work developing the infrastructure for checks and controls at Rosslare Europort; the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine (€33 million) as initial funding for fisheries and horticulture measures; and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment (€5 million) as initial funding for a variety of schemes, including customs readiness, to support business impacted by Brexit.

Further allocations will be made throughout the year as the impacts of Brexit are worked through. Work is continuing across Government, with all Departments examining measures that need to be taken. For example, work is underway on the development of additional inspection facilities at Rosslare Europort, while the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine is developing proposals in response to the report of the Seafood Sector Task force.