From Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform
By: Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform;
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The scale of the impact COVID-19 has had on our public finances has been stark, with a deficit of approximately €18 billion both last year and this year outlined in the recent Stability Programme Update. This reflects the scale of the expenditure allocated directly to respond to exceptional circumstances arising from COVID-19 with over €28 billion made available over 2020 and 2021.
Budget 2021 provided for an overall expenditure ceiling for this year of €87.8 billion. This included almost €12 billion to continue our response to COVID-19. This additional funding has been critical in supporting the health service and other frontline services to respond to the crisis and to provide the necessary supports to our people and businesses who have been devastated by the pandemic.
Key measures provided for to date, throughout 2020 and 2021, include some €15 billion allocated to the Pandemic Unemployment Payment and the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme/ Temporary Wage Subsidy scheme from their introduction to the end of June. Approximately €1.25 billion has been made available in business supports through the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Further support for businesses has been provided by the Commercial Rates Waiver, with almost €1.2 in funding earmarked to meet the costs of this to end June.
Further to this, to support our health service in responding to the pandemic, additional funding of €4.4 billion has been provided across 2020 and 2021.
Building on this, the measures laid out in the Economic Recovery Plan will continue this support for people and businesses. While there will be a further cost to these measures, they will provide for the continuation of necessary support to incomes, employment and activity across our economy.
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan marks a key element of our recovery and will enable us to move beyond the pandemic to rebuilding the economy. It is aligned with both the Economic Recovery Plan and the review of the National Development Plan that is currently underway.
The NRRP has been developed by the government so that Ireland can access funding under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility. Ireland is expected to receive €915 million in grants under the Facility in 2021 and 2022. A further set of grants is to be allocated in 2023, taking into account economic developments between now and then.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility is the largest component of NextGenerationEU, the European Union’s €750 billion response to the global pandemic. The aim is to help repair the immediate economic and social damage brought about by the pandemic and to prepare for a post-COVID Europe that is greener, more digital, more resilient and fit to face the future.
The National Recovery and Resilience Plan sets out the reforms and investments to be supported by the Recovery and Resilience Facility in Ireland.
My department, working together with the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Finance, has been responsible for the preparing the Plan with input from other departments as necessary, and for ensuring coordination across Government.
The overall objective of the NRRP is to contribute to a sustainable, equitable, green and digital recovery effort, in a manner that complements and supports the government’s broader recovery efforts.
Reflecting the requirements of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the NRRP has a particular focus on green and digital transition, as well as supporting economic recovery and job creation. In order to meet EU requirements, a minimum of 37% of expenditure has to be on climate and 20% on digital.
The Plan must also address investment and reform challenges identified in relevant Country Specific Recommendations made to Ireland by the EU in recent years and be aligned with national economic and investment plans.
Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan includes a set of 16 investment projects and 9 reform measures, to a total value of around €1 billion focussing on:
The investments projects and reform measures set out in this Plan will combine to contribute to a sustainable, equitable, green and digital recovery that is consistent with the objectives of the Recovery and Resilience Facility and complements the government’s broader recovery effort.