Ireland's National Recovery and Resilience Plan: Latest state of play

Ireland's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) is relatively small compared to the plans of most Member States. In absolute terms and per capita, Ireland has the second smallest allocation (after Luxembourg) under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF)  €989 million entirely in grants. So far, it has not requested any loans (the maximum available loan amount is estimated at €18.7 billion). Most of the funds (€914.4 million) are expected to be legally committed by December 2022. A further set of grants (the remaining amount) will be allocated in 2023, depending on economic developments. Ireland has not requested pre-financing; its grants are planned to be disbursed in five instalments. Relative to the size of the Irish economy, its RRF grants are not large: these are equivalent to around 0.3 % of the country's 2019 GDP, while the total RRF amounts to 5.2 % of 2019 EU-27 GDP. Given also that spending will be spread over the years up to 2026, the RRF is not expected to have a significant direct impact on Ireland's key macroeconomic indicators. The European Commission estimates that it could increase Ireland's GDP by 0.3-0.5 % by 2026. А more significant indirect impact is expected from the overall boost to the EU economy and the associated cross-border spillover effects. The plan's overall objective is to contribute to a sustainable, equitable, green and digital recovery. It complements the government's broader domestic recovery efforts under the economic recovery plan, underpinned by the national development plan (NDP) of €165 billion, for 2021-2030. Although the RRF allocation amounts to less than 1 % of the total NDP investment, it will contribute to key reforms and investments. With 41.9 % of funding allocated for climate and 31.5 % for digital measures, the NRRP's16 investment and 9 reform projects will also focus on strategic EU priorities. The European Parliament participates in interinstitutional fora for cooperation and discussion on the implementation of the RRF, and scrutinises the work of the European Commission.