Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 May 2026
225. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation whether drafting has commenced at a national level on the proposed EU National Regional Partnership Plans; the way he envisages that this process will take place, including scope for input at parliamentary and civil society level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38626/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe European Commission's proposals for the 2028 - 2034 Multi-Annual Financial Framework (MFF) published in July 2025 provide for consolidation of Common Agricultural Policy funding and Cohesion Policy Funding under single national allocations, to be delivered through a National and Regional Partnership Plan (NRPP).
Each NRPP must, as currently proposed, address five specific objectives:
Support the Union’s sustainable prosperity.
Support the Union’s defence capabilities and security.
Strengthen social cohesion.
Sustain the quality of life in the Union (agriculture).
Protect and strengthen fundamental rights, democracy, equality, rule of law and uphold Union values.
Plans are to be structured into chapters, each of which focuses on a specific challenge, sector, policy or geographic area.
Since September 2025, Ireland and other Member States have been negotiating the details of the NRPP regulation in Council and while substantial progress has been made, significant technical and financial issues remain to be resolved. Pending resolution of these issues, it would be premature to commence a drafting process for the NRPP itself. Instead, preparatory work has commenced on a number of likely NRPP chapters.
Such work will involve establishment of Committees of stakeholders, including local authorities, economic and social partners including farmers and fishers, civil society and research organisations and universities to inform drafting of each Chapter.
This parallels the drafting of previous plans for EU funding. For example, Cohesion Policy funds in Ireland for the 2021-2027 period are governed by a Partnership Agreement between Ireland and the European Commission. The Agreement is an overarching strategic document setting out priorities for investment of the cohesion funds (the ERDF and the European Social Fund (ESF+), as well as the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) and the Just Transition Fund (JTF) for the 2021-27 period. It also covers the financial aspects of the Asylum Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and the Internal Security Fund (ISF).
The development of the Partnership Agreement was overseen by a Partnership Process Steering Group, a cross-sectoral stakeholder group which oversaw all the milestones in the development of the Partnership Agreement and the parallel development of Cohesion policy programmes. Key steps included a Socio-Economic Needs Analysis, a comprehensive public consultation, and the production of a Key Themes document, setting out high-level areas of spending, oversight on complementarities across EU Funds and horizontal enabling conditions.
I will arrange to update the Deputy on the conduct of the negotiations and associated preparations for the NRPP in due course.
