From Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform
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The Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform, Paschal Donohoe today (Friday) announced that Ireland has submitted its second payment request under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).
Ireland will receive approximately €1.15 billion over the lifetime of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP) funded by the RRF. The overall objective of Ireland’s NRRP is to contribute to a sustainable, equitable, green and digital recovery effort, in a manner that complements and supports the government’s broader efforts.
The RRF allocation will be paid to Ireland in five instalments. The drawdown of payments under this performance-based Facility is contingent on the timely delivery of the milestones and targets by each Accountable Department and on providing the supporting evidence to this effect. Ireland has already received its first payment of €324 million under the Facility. This first payment which consisted of 36 milestones and 5 targets, was adopted in July this year following Commission and Council approval.
The second payment request, which relates to 17 milestones and targets and amounts to €115 million includes investments such as work to enable the future electrification of public transport in Cork; the decarbonisation and digitalisation of the Enterprise Sector; enhancing digital skills and increasing the provision of social and affordable housing.
In addition, Ireland’s second payment request includes a series of reforms in areas including climate action; addressing the digital divide; reducing regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship by introducing an ‘SME test’ for new legislation and on tax, pension, housing and pension reform.
Minister Donohoe welcomes the submission of the Ireland’s second payment request following the extensive engagement with the Commission during the informal co-operation process.
Minister Donohoe said:
"I am pleased that we have further progressed implementation of our National Recovery and Resilience Plan to the stage where we can formally submit Ireland’s second payment request under the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF). This follows extensive engagement between departments across Government and the European Commission during the informal cooperation process.
“The RRF is the main pillar of the European recovery plan, NextGenerationEU, designed to provide financial aid to Member States in order to combat the economic and social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and make the European economy more resistant to future shocks. Once the second payment request has been approved, Ireland will have successfully achieved 48% of the milestones and targets within our Plan and have secured 38% of our €1.15 billion funding."
The Commission will now assess the request and send its preliminary assessment of Ireland’s fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the European Council's Economic and Financial Committee.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) is the main pillar of the European recovery plan, NextGenerationEU, designed to provide financial aid to Member States to combat the economic and social effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and make the European economy more resistant to future shocks.
The RRF entered into force on 19 February 2021. It finances reforms and investments in EU Member States made from the start of the pandemic in February 2020 until 31 December 2026. Countries can receive financing up to a previously agreed maximum amount.
To benefit from support under the Facility, EU Governments have submitted national recovery and resilience plans, outlining the reforms and investments they will implement by end-2026, with clear milestones and targets. The plans had to allocate at least 37% of their budget to green measures and 20% to digital measures.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility is performance-based. This means that the Commission only pays out the amounts to each country when they have achieved the agreed milestones and targets towards completing the reforms and investments included in their plan.
Ireland’s RRF Allocation is €1.15 billion, including REPowerEU. The National Recovery and Resilience Plan covers 11 reforms and 19 investments with 118 associated milestones and targets. Payment is contingent on achievement of the milestones and targets in each payment instalment. This payment request was formally submitted to the Commission on 23 December 2024 and covers a total of 17 milestones and targets and amounts to €115 million.
RRF projects are pre-funded through the Estimates processes and the National Development Plan, with the RRF allocated funding being recouped from the EU after the milestones and targets have been achieved.
More information can be found on the government and European Commission websites at: