Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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252. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he will be working to progress continued, simplified and dedicated funding, through the next EU budget for energy communities, considering they are building a secure, local and sustainable energy system; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30187/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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There have been six multiannual financial frameworks (MFFs) to date, including 2021-2027. The Treaty of Lisbon transformed the MFF from an interinstitutional agreement into a regulation. Established for a period of at least five years, an MFF is there to ensure that the EU’s expenditure develops in an orderly manner and within the limits of its own resources. It sets out provisions with which the annual budget of the EU must comply.

A post-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) is currently in development. According to the current MFF regulation, the EU Commission should propose the post-2027 MFF before July 2025. Negotiations on the proposal are likely to begin under the Danish Presidency of the Council of the EU, and continue into the Cypriot, Irish and Lithuanian Greek Presidencies.

My Department has been actively working with the two Government departments leading on the MFF, the Department of Finance and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to ensure that energy and in particular, strategic energy infrastructure, is at the centre of Ireland's proposals and positioning.