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National Reform Programme
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For 2021, and in line with the European Union’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ireland’s National Reform Programme will be integrated in to our National Recovery and Resilience Plan and the European Semester process will be temporarily adapted to coordinate it with this plan.
The EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility lies at the heart of the Union’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the Facility is to mitigate the economic and social impact of the pandemic and make European economies and societies more sustainable, resilient and better prepared for the challenges and opportunities of the green and digital transitions.
Ireland is expected to receive €853 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.
In order to access this funding, Ireland must develop a National Recovery and Resilience Plan for approval by the European Union. The Plan must set out the reforms and investments to be supported by the Facility and must be submitted to the European Commission no later than 30 April 2021.
The reforms and investments proposals included in the Plan must seek to address all or a significant subset of challenges identified in the relevant country-specific recommendations received by Ireland in 2019 and 2020, which arise as part of the European Semester process. They must also be aligned with a number of EU flagship areas, including climate action and digital transitions.
The Department of Public Expenditure & Reform, working together with the Department of the Taoiseach, the Department of Finance and the Department of Enterprise, Trade & Employment, is responsible for the preparing the Plan with input from other Departments as necessary, and for ensuring coordination across Government.
Stakeholder engagement is an important part of the process. A public consultation was held on Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan which closed 22 February 2021.