Ireland has written to the European Commission requesting that €150m in Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR) funding be transferred to support the roll-out of renewable energy instead of going to sectors affected by Brexit.

Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe has told Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín that the move has been provided for by the EU.

However, it is not clear what sector the funding will move from if approved.

“Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the EU has moved quickly to phase out EU dependence on Russian gas, oil and coal imports and accelerate the green transition.

“EU member states are adding specific chapters to their national recovery and resilience plans (NRRPs) to finance key investments and reforms that will help achieve the REPowerEU objectives,” Minister Donohoe said.

Measures

REPowerEU is a package of measures which aim to reduce EU demand for Russian gas.

Measures included in the plan include increasing biomethane production, increasing solar energy production and increasing green hydrogen production.

“The EU has provided that member states may transfer a portion of their BAR funding to support these priorities," Minister Donohoe said.

“Given that the timeline under REPowerEU extends to 2026, Ireland has in recent days sent a request to the Commission setting out a transfer of €150m of the BAR funding to support priorities under REPowerEU and is continuing to engage in this regard,” he confirmed.

BAR and agriculture

The BAR is to provide support to counter the adverse economic, social, territorial and environmental consequences of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU.

Some €5.47bn was allocated to the fund and Ireland’s allocation is €1.16bn. Ireland has a four-year period in which it can apply for funding - 2020 to 2024.

Agriculture, including fisheries, has by far the highest amount of BAR funding allocated to it compared with any other sector.

Over the course of budgets 2022 and 2023, some €389m was allocated across a range of Departments, with €271m going to agriculture.

The next highest amount was €37.3m to the Department of Further and Higher Education and €24m to the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications.

The sector or sectors from which the €150m is to come from has yet to be confirmed.