Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The information requested is currently being collated by my Department and will be forwarded directly to the Deputy as soon as it is finalised.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) is the largest component of the European Union’s €800 billion NextGenerationEU recovery instrument and Ireland is in line to receive almost a billion Euro in grants over the lifetime of the Facility. In order to access this funding, Ireland developed the National Recovery & Resilience Plan which has been approved by the European Union.

The National Recovery and Resilience Plan outlines how Ireland intends to utilise an initial allocation of €915 million in grants from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility. The overall objective of Ireland’s Plan is to contribute to a sustainable, equitable, green and digital recovery, in a manner that complements and supports the Government’s broader recovery effort.

My Department has responsibility for 3 National Recovery and Resilience Plan Investment Projects and Reform Measures, which are set out in tabular form in the attached document.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Under the National Digital Strategy, Harnessing Digital – The Digital Ireland Framework, published early in 2022, Government has committed to driving a step change in the digitalisation of enterprise in Ireland. Growing the use of digital technologies by businesses will help to build the resilience of our enterprise base as we look to future-proof our economy. For businesses, investment in digitalisation brings increased efficiencies, easier access to and better services for customers, and greater cybersecurity and scalability. A number of different schemes are in place, administered by Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and Local Enterprise Offices to support businesses of all sizes on their digital journey.

Details of the funding allocated to enterprise digitalisation are set out below.

The Digital Transition Fundis an €85m fund under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), running from 2022-2026 funded by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). The fund is administered by EI, IDA Ireland and Údarás na Gaeltachta through a range of schemes to boost uptake of digital technology. Draw down to date is €4.2 million. The provisional allocation for 2024 is €10.5 million, subject to approval by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform (DPENDR).

Part-funded by the RRF and the Digital Europe Programme, are Ireland’s four European Digital Innovation Hubs(EDIHs). EDIHs are an EU-wide network providing digitalisation advice at low or no cost to SMEs and public sector organisations to support uptake of technologies including AI and data analytics and to enhance their cybersecurity and digital skills. The Irish EDIHs drew down €7m in the period 2022-2023. The provisional allocation for 2024 is €4.9 million, subject to DPENDR approval.

The Network of 31 Local Enterprise Offices(LEOs) support small businesses to attain basic digital intensity to help them to save time, money, and energy. Supports for digitalisation available through LEOs include the Trading Online Voucher(TOV), a voucher of up to €2,500 with 50% co-funding by the applicant, and Digital for Business, for businesses with up to 50 employees in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors to prepare and implement a plan for the adoption of digital tools and techniques.

Funding to business by the LEOs under the TOV scheme between 2020 and 2023 amounted to €20.8m. This includes a provisional figure of €3.1m for 2023. Digital for Business has seen payments of €573K in 2022 and a provisional figure of €985K assigned to 2023. Figures associated with 2023 are currently provisional for both schemes, and subject to the completion of an exercise to verify them. For both the Trading Online Voucher and the Digital for Business scheme, the 2024 allocation will be determined when the LEO Budget is presented and approved by the Enterprise Ireland Board.

Enterprise Ireland runs a number of schemes to support digitalisation of business. TheOnline Retail Schemeadministered since 2019 supports Irish retailers in developing a more competitive online offer increase their customer base and build a more resilient business in the domestic and global marketplace both online and offline.Payments from 2019-2023 amount to €10.3 million.Future funding under this scheme is currently under review. The Digitalisation Voucher has seen payments of €2.04 million in 2022 and €0.46 million in 2023. Payments under the Digital Marketing Capability Schemefrom 2019-2023 totalled €4.59 million.

The Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF), established in 2018, is one of four National Development Plan (NDP) 2018-2027 funds, and is aimed at encouraging collaboration and innovation in the development and deployment of disruptive technologies on a commercial basis, in order to tackle national and global challenges. It is managed by the Department and administered by Enterprise Ireland. Although not exclusively focused on digital technologies, the fund encourages projects that complement the priority enterprise policy objective on digital transformation as set out in the White Paper on Enterprise. There is a particular focus on SMEs, with SME participation a mandatory requirement for each collaborative project. Six DTIF calls for projects have been held to date, ranging in value from €8 million to €95 million, with a total of €365 million allocated to 103 collaborative projects to date.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The below table details the expenditure base for the programme expenditure under 'jobs and enterprise development', 'enterprise innovation and commercialisation' and 'regulation' for 2024 as published in the Revised Estimate Volume 2024.

The allocations for 2025 -2027 will be determined as part of the respective Estimates process for each of those years.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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The below table details the expenditure base for IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Local Enterprise Development, InterTrade Ireland, Science and Technology Development Programme, Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund, Workplace Relations Programme and the Health and Safety Authority for 2024 as published in the Revised Estimate Volume 2024.

The allocations for 2025 -2027 will be determined as part of the respective Estimates process for each of those years.