EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 16.7.2021 SWD(2021) 205 final COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT Analysis of the recovery and resilience plan of Ireland Accompanying the document Proposal for a COUNCIL IMPLEMENTING DECISION on the approval of the assessment of the recovery and resilience plan for Ireland {COM(2021) 419 final}



Table of contents 1. Executive summary 2. Recovery and resilience challenges: scene-setter 2.1. Macroeconomic outlook and developments since the 2020 country report 2.2. Challenges related to sustainable growth, cohesion, resilience and policies for the next generation 2.3. Challenges related to the green and digital transition 2.3.1. Green dimension 2.3.2. Digital dimension 3. Objectives, structure and governance of the plan 3.1. Overall strategy of the plan 3.2. Implementation aspects of the plan 4. Summary of the assessment of the plan 4.1. Comprehensive and adequately balanced response to the economic and social situation 4.2. Link with country-specific recommendations and the European Semester 4.3. Growth potential, job creation, economic, institutional and social resilience, European Pillar of Social Rights, mitigating the impact of the crisis, and social territorial cohesion and convergence 4.4. The principle of ‘do no significant harm’ 4.5. Green transition 4.6. Digital transition

4.7. Lasting impact of the plan 4.8. Milestones, targets, monitoring and implementation 4.9. Costing 4.10. Controls and audit 4.11. Coherence Annex: Climate tracking and digital tagging table



1.Executive summary The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the Irish economy, though it was the only Member State with positive real GDP growth in 2020. Ireland’s real GDP expanded by 3.4% in 2020, driven by exports of multinational corporations headquartered there. However, private consumption and investment fell sharply. A resurgence of infections brought new lockdown restrictions early in 2021 with yet another large negative impact on private consumption. Nevertheless, GDP growth in the first quarter was very strong, again driven by multinationals’ exports, and a strong domestic rebound is expected from the second quarter of 2021 onwards. Substantial government support prevented a surge in unemployment and bankruptcies. The official unemployment rate gradually increased from below 5% pre-pandemic to 7.8% in May 2021, though the COVID-adjusted unemployment fluctuated between a quarter and a third of the labour force during peaks of restrictions. The government response to the pandemic had an impact on the general government balance and debt. The general government deficit was 5.0% of GDP in 2020 and a budget deficit is also expected in 2021 as the pandemic support continues. Risks to the fiscal outlook are tilted to the downside and reflect various sources of uncertainty, such as possible changes in the international corporate taxation environment due to Ireland’s significant reliance on potentially volatile corporate tax revenue. The public debt ratio is expected to increase in 2021 on the back of a sustained deficit. In 2020, the debt ratio increased to 59.5% of GDP despite nominal GDP growth of 2.9% in 2020. The debt-to-modified GNI (GNI*) ratio, a metric that better captures the public debt burden on the domestic economy, is projected to have reached almost 106% in 2020, up from 95.6% in 2019. The Irish recovery and resilience plan (the ‘plan’) amounts to EUR 989 938 300 million, which is slightly above the maximum financial contribution allocated to Ireland under the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) of EUR 988 966 534, equivalent to 0.3% of 2019 GDP. The plan includes a total of 25 measures (16 investments and 9 reforms) structured around three components: (i) advancing the green transition; (ii) accelerating and expanding digital reforms and transformation; and (iii) social and economic recovery and job creation. Ireland did not request any loans. The plan has the potential to make a positive contribution to Ireland’s economic rebound and accelerate the green and digital transitions. It includes measures to front-load private and public green investments and advance environmental, climate, energy and infrastructure projects. Targeted measures are expected to support the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in sectors responsible for most of the emissions. The plan also includes reforms and investments that are set to promote the digital transformation across society and help improve the prospects for welfare and equality, growth and employment. The reforms and investments underpinning the plan can be expected to contribute to addressing a significant subset of the 2019 and 2020 country-specific recommendations (CSRs). The plan focuses on reforms and investments facilitating the green and digital transitions, but also on active labour market integration support and upskilling. The investments also contribute to the front-loading of mature public investment projects, the promotion of private investment and the use of more direct funding instruments to stimulate research and innovation. Furthermore, the plan commits to reforms in the areas of housing, pensions, health and regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship, while also introducing measures that are expected to partially address challenges related to anti-money laundering and aggressive tax planning. The reforms and investments in the plan are also consistent with the challenges and priorities identified in the most recent Draft Council Recommendation on economic policy in the euro area. The plan pursues the general objective of the Facility to promote the Union’s economic, social and territorial cohesion and is balanced in its response to the six policy pillars referred to in Article 3 of the RRF Regulation. Considering all reforms and investments envisaged, taking the specific challenges and the financial allocation of Ireland into account, the plan represents to a large extent a comprehensive, and adequately balanced response to the economic and social situation. The plan is designed to support economic growth and job creation through investments and reforms. Given the size of the RRF financial contribution, the direct impact from a macroeconomic perspective is expected to be small. Investments and policies to improve energy efficiency and accelerate digitalisation are expected to contribute to creating jobs, as well as improving productivity over different horizons. The plan contains a range of measures that are expected to contribute to social cohesion by supporting employment prospects, particularly through creating work placement opportunities, training and educational programmes. This is expected to help labour adjustment to the post-crisis structures and has the potential to contribute to growth. Furthermore, a set of reform measures included in the plan have the potential to contribute to addressing the high need for social and affordable housing and help ensure timely access to affordable healthcare of good quality, thereby strengthening social resilience. The plan also includes a range of measures that may strengthen the capacity of the economic and social structures and institutions to adjust to and withstand shocks. A well-functioning internal market remains an essential element of this endeavour. The measures in the plan have the potential to accelerate the green transition and protect the environment. They are expected to support Ireland’s decarbonisation and energy objectives for 2030, as set out in the national energy and climate plan and in the programme for Government, and are thus a step towards achieving climate neutrality by 2050. The plan therefore supports a sustainable recovery of the Irish economy. It includes a broad set of measures aiming at improving energy efficiency in private and public buildings, decarbonising industries, promoting sustainable railway mobility, restoring biodiversity through the rehabilitation of peatlands, improving water treatment and facilitating green research and innovation. The plan also commits Ireland to a speedy entry into force of the amendments to the climate law and its associated increase in climate targets, and to securing a significant increase in the carbon tax over the RRF period. With respect to the climate tagging of all three components in the plan, measures contributing to climate objectives account for 42% of the plan’s total allocation. Most measures in the Irish plan have passed the ex-ante assessment of the ‘do no significant harm’ principle. In addition, for some measures, the ‘do no significant harm’ principle has been reflected in the milestones and targets specified in the Annex to the Commission Proposal for a Council Implementing Decision. As regards the digital transition, the measures contributing to digital objectives account for 32% of the financial allocation, which is above the 20% minimum requirement of the RRF Regulation. Component 2 (Accelerating and expanding digital reforms and transformation) is fully dedicated to the digital transition. Several measures aim at contributing to the digital transition by supporting the digitalisation of enterprises, addressing the risk of the digital divide, including in the education sector, enhancing digital skills, and supporting the development of digital infrastructure and the delivery of digital public services. In addition, Component 1 is expected to partially contribute to the digital objectives, particularly by supporting digital-related research and development activities. The implementation of the envisaged measures is expected to have a lasting impact. The plan is fully aligned and integrated into the government’s wider national economic and recovery plan, the review of the national development plan, and the forthcoming update of the climate action plan. This is expected to help ensure that the implementation of the plan is well coordinated and lasting. The plan includes several measures that are expected to lead to structural change in public administration, housing, healthcare, education, digitalisation and green policies. The plan provides an explanation of its internal implementation framework. Responsibilities for individual projects are identified and coordination is to be ensured by a newly created Implementing Body. The plan also includes clear and realistic milestones and targets, whereas the proposed indicators for those milestones and targets are relevant, acceptable and robust. They constitute an appropriate system for monitoring the plan’s implementation and assess disbursement requests. Ireland has provided individual cost estimates for the measures in the plan. The estimates and supporting documents show that the costs are justified, reasonable, plausible and commensurate, in line with the principle of cost-efficiency. The amounts proposed for financing were deemed appropriate and seen as establishing the plausibility of the cost estimates to a medium extent. The avoidance, detection and prevention of double funding from the EU is expected to be ensured at all stages of the projects’ lifecycle, through robust procedures structured within the plan.

Ireland’s control and audit system is adequate to prevent, detect and correct potential fraud, corruption and conflicts of interest, and avoid double funding. The system presents a robust process and structure, where the roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and the relevant control functions are appropriately segregated. The proposed measures give assurance that there is an adequate level of control to prevent, detect and correct irregularities identified when using funds provided by the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Ireland committed in specific milestones to having in place an efficient repository system and to having allocated sufficient administrative capacity to perform such audits by the time of the first disbursement request. The reforms and investments in each of the individual components are coherent and targeted to the same objectives. The components pursue complementary aims. The measures in each of the individual components are mutually reinforcing, as investments are accompanied by reforms that aim to address underlying structural challenges. There is an adequate balance between investments and reforms in view of the main challenges to be addressed, and between investments in different territories. Table 1: Ratings of the plan under the eleven criteria (1)

Balanced Response (2)

CSRs (3)

Growth, jobs… (4)

DNSH (5)

Green target (6)

Digital target (7)

Lasting impact (8)

M & T (9)

Costing (10)

Control Systems (11)

Coherence A A A A A A A A B A A 2.Recovery and resilience challenges: scene-setter 2.1.Macroeconomic outlook and developments since the 2020 country report Ireland’s economy grew in 2020, driven by the strong performance of multinational corporations. Real GDP grew by 3.4%, making Ireland the only Member State that registered positive growth in the year when the pandemic erupted. This growth was driven by exports of multinational corporations headquartered in Ireland, particularly those specialised in pharmaceuticals and medical equipment (including COVID-related products) and those operating in the information and telecommunication sectors, while the domestic economy, particularly sectors requiring face-to-face contact, suffered substantially. Public spending rose in order to cushion the economic and social fallout. Ireland had entered the COVID-19 crisis with vulnerabilities related to its external, public and private sector indebtedness, as identified in the macroeconomic imbalance procedure and confirmed by the in depth review. The pandemic has had an uneven impact on these large stock vulnerabilities. In 2020, Ireland ran a current account surplus and its very negative net international investment position became less negative. Public debt, due to the need to fund various support schemes, has increased. Private debt, due to precautionary savings and constrained ability to consume, has fallen. The labour market was stabilised by government intervention. The official unemployment rate stood at 5.8% in 2020 while the COVID-adjusted unemployment rate (a measure that adds the recipients of the pandemic unemployment payment) was 21.7%, reflecting the degree of the government intervention. Hours worked, another indicator of the labour market health, were 9.4% lower in 2020 compared to the previous year. Support by the EU’s SURE instrument, the COVID-19 temporary wage subsidy scheme, has been instrumental in protecting existing jobs and cushioning income losses. Overall, about 71% of the COVID-19-related income shock was cushioned by the Irish tax-benefit system, including the emergency measures . Income support schemes were subsequently extended until the end of 2021. The reopening of the economy is set to improve the labour market situation markedly. The COVID-19 crisis risks increasing the share of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion. Ireland ranks better than average or among the best performers in the EU in terms of income inequality after social transfers, unemployment rate, early leavers from education and training, and the net earnings of a full-time single worker earning the average wage. However, the employment and social situation of vulnerable groups remains a challenge and is likely to have been exacerbated by the crisis (see Box 3). While the share of people living in low work-intensity households has been decreasing since 2013, it still remains one of the highest in the EU (13.6% in 2019 vs 8.3% in the EU). In the years preceding the COVID-19 crisis, rent increases in big cities and an insufficient provision of social and affordable housing have led to persistent housing challenges. Going forward, with the phasing out of temporary support schemes, social risks and inequalities are likely to increase. The pandemic has somewhat overshadowed the impact of Brexit on the economy, though the latter still caused disruptions in specific sectors. The UK and EU concluded a Trade and Cooperation Agreement on 24 December 2020. Brexit mostly affected the agri-food sector, due to increased requirements in complying with documents and border delays. On 25 December 2020, the Commission adopted its proposal for a Brexit Adjustment Reserve. The Council and the European Parliament reached a preliminary agreement on the draft Regulation on 17 June 2021. The Brexit Adjustment Reserve is set to help counter the adverse economic and social consequences of Brexit in the Member States and sectors that are worst affected by it, especially when it comes to trading and fishing opportunities. Its overall proposed budget is EUR 5 billion in 2018 prices. Ireland is expected to claim over EUR 1 billion from the Brexit Adjustment Reserve. HICP inflation in Ireland was low over the recent years and is expected to remain subdued despite some increases in the short run. HICP inflation was negative in 2020 and in the first quarter of 2021, amid low oil prices, weak demand and a 2% VAT cut from 1 September 2020 to 28 February 2021. HICP inflation is set to increase in 2021 due to rising energy prices, supply frictions and increased transport cost, in line with the general euro area inflation trend. Inflation is projected to reach 1.5% in 2021 and increase to 1.2% in 2022 on the back of recovering domestic demand. In 2020, Ireland’s general government deficit was 5.0% of GDP, following a surplus of 0.5% of GDP in 2019, while general government debt increased by 2.1 percentage points to 59.5% of GDP. The increase in the deficit was due to discretionary budgetary measures of 3.9% of GDP in support to the economy and the operation of automatic stabilisers. Ireland also provided liquidity support to companies and households (such as guarantees and tax deferrals, which do not have a direct and immediate budgetary impact), estimated at 1.2% of GDP. According to the latest public debt sustainability analysis, Ireland faces low sustainability risk in the medium term and medium risk in the long term. Financial market perceptions of sovereign risk are favourable, as reflected in low sovereign bond yields and credit default swap spreads. The interest to revenue ratio was estimated at 4.3% in 2020, compared to 5% in 2019, continuing a decreasing trend from a 25-year peak of 12.6% in 2013. The general government debt-to-GDP ratio remained below the 60% threshold in 2020. However, when scaling government debt with gross national income (GNI) – a more accurate measure of public debt repayment capacity in Ireland – medium-term vulnerabilities appear more significant. The Recovery and Resilience Facility is expected to be a mitigating factor as regards the identified debt sustainability risks, as it should support growth potential through investments and reforms. Table 2: Comparison of macroeconomic and budgetary developments and forecasts 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 COM COM RRP COM RRP COM RRP RRP RRP RRP Real GDP (% change) 5.6 3.4 3.4 4.6 4.5 5.0 5.0 3.5 3.2 3.1 Employment (% change) 2.9 -1.5 -15.1 -3.5 4.0 5.0 11.0 3.2 2.3 2.2 Unemployment rate (%) 5.0 5.7 18.7 10.7 16.3 8.1 8.2 6.7 6.0 5.5 HICP inflation (% change) 0.9 -0.5 -0.5 0.9 1.1 1.3 1.9 1.5 1.6 1.9 General government balance (% of GDP) 0.5 -5.0 -5.0 -5.0 -4.7 -2.9 -2.8 -1.2 -0.7 -0.2 Gross debt ratio (% of GDP) 57.4 59.5 59.5 61.4 62.2 59.7 60.2 59.0 57.7 55.4 Sources: Commission spring 2021 forecast; RRP – 2021 Stability Programme Note: The Stability Programme Update of Ireland also include the projected impact of the recovery and resilience plan (RRP). The macroeconomic projections underlying Ireland’s recovery and resilience plan are plausible and seem to be conservative, in view of latest data. According to the plan, real GDP is expected to grow by 4.5% in 2021 and 5.0% in 2022, which was in line with the Commission spring 2021 forecast (see Table 2 ). However, the first quarter of 2021 outturn was very strong, at 7.8% real GDP growth quarter on quarter, and high frequency indicators point to a strong second quarter. The Commission summer 2021 forecast hence projects real GDP to grow by 7.2% in 2021 and 5.1% in 2022. As the economy is reopening, more people are returning to work already, providing also an upside to the labour projections. Nonetheless, once the pandemic impact wanes and government support is withdrawn, unemployment might be higher than before the crisis due to the potential ‘scarring’ effects and increased skills mismatches. The authorities expect growth to moderate to 3.5% in 2023, 3.2% in 2024 and 3.1% in 2025. The macroeconomic and fiscal outlook continue to be affected by high uncertainty related to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic consequences. 2.2.Challenges related to sustainable growth, cohesion, resilience and policies for the next generation Ireland is facing intertwined challenges to sustainable growth, resilience and cohesion, requiring a comprehensive policy response. An overarching objective of the Recovery and Resilience Facility is to support measures along four pillars that address these challenges (in addition to the two RRF pillars supporting the green and digital transitions). First, reforms and investments related to economic cohesion, productivity, and competitiveness can help strengthen the growth potential of the Irish economy and enable a sustainable recovery. Second, tackling challenges related to social and territorial cohesion should ensure nobody is left behind in the economic rebound. Third, the COVID-19 crisis has also highlighted that reforms and investments are important for institutional resilience, including crisis reaction capacity and preparedness. Fourth, policies for the next generation, including education and skills, can help ensure that young people are not permanently affected by the impact of the COVID-19 crisis. Smart, sustainable and inclusive growth

While Ireland has a business-friendly environment overall, its position in the World Bank’s ‘ease of doing business’ ranking has dropped slightly. In 2020, Ireland ranked 24th, down from 23rd in the previous year. While Ireland’s business environment generally remains business-friendly, the most problematic dimensions for the country’s ranking are ‘enforcing contracts’ (91st), ‘registering property’ (60th) and ‘trading across borders’ (52nd). As regards enforcement of contracts, Ireland scores poorly on all three indicators (time required to enforce a contract through the courts, cost required and quality of judicial process). Despite a relatively large share of high growth enterprises in Ireland, challenges to fast growth remain. Fast growing enterprises carry a premium in a recovery context. It is notable that in recent years Ireland’s business economy has had the highest percentage of fast growing enterprises in the EU (16% compared to the EU average of 12% for all sectors in 2018 or 28% versus 19% for knowledge intensive sectors in 2018). However, less favourable financing and other framework conditions for high growth enterprises – notably concerning human capital matters – are causes for concern. Productivity in Ireland remains very strong, compared to other advanced economies, pushed up by a limited number of multinational companies. According to the Central Statistics Office, the labour productivity growth rate of the foreign multinational companies sector was on average 9.3% per year between 2000 and 2018, significantly above the 1.5% of the domestic sector and the EU average of 1.3% during the same period. The productivity growth of domestic firms is held back by much lower investment than that going into multinational firms, which widens the dichotomy between domestic and foreign-owned firms. Technology diffusion through the presence of multinationals remains limited. The competitiveness of Irish firms, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), may be held back by the high cost of credit (including access to short-term liquidity and investment capital at affordable rates), commercial properties, insurance and legal services. Ireland scores low on the European Investment Fund’s SME access to finance index, ranking 25th out of 28 for the sub-indicator covering bank loans. In addition to differences in productivity across sectors, Ireland is the EU country that experienced the greatest variation in productivity growth among its regions. Irish regions also perform very differently in terms of location factors for enterprises and residents. While the Eastern and Midland region and, to a lesser extent, the Southern region offer attractive and sustainable environments for firms and residents, the Northern and Western region has comparative shortcomings in terms of infrastructure, market size and efficiency (Regional Competitiveness Index, European Commission, 2019). Equally, according to Eurostat, employment in high-tech and knowledge-intensive services is concentrated in the Eastern and Midland (10.5%) and in the Southern (9%) regions, and is significantly below the national average in the Northern and Western region (5.9%). This results in stark differences in the GDP per head of between the three regions, with the GDP per head in the Northern and Western region being about a third of the GDP per head in the Eastern and Midland region and in the Southern region. Skill shortages persist in, among other fields, construction, IT, life sciences, and transport, exacerbating the difficulties faced by Irish businesses in 2020. A survey conducted in October 2020 by SOLAS, the Irish state agency for further education and training, shows that over 53% of the surveyed science, engineering and technology companies had difficulty hiring experts with appropriate skills. The figure was 27% for companies in the construction sector. Lending to businesses has fallen since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, which may reflect both a fall in investment and tightened access to finance. According to the Central Bank of Ireland, total lending to enterprises fell on average by 4.6% annually in the second half of 2020. SMEs have been particularly affected, as new lending to these businesses fell significantly during the year (-17.6% annually in the second half of 2020), with the most affected sectors being the ones also most affected by the pandemic, notably real estate, transport, wholesale, retail and hospitality. Part of this may be due to falling investment, mainly in construction. During 2020, domestic modified investment was 8.5% below the 2019 level. In addition, the bank lending survey from the Central Bank of Ireland suggests credit standards also tightened moderately in 2020, reflecting the broader economic environment and firm-specific conditions. Some weaknesses also persist in the financing of research and development (R&D). Until 2018, Ireland had been gradually increasing its investment in R&D to 1.14% of GDP (or 1.87% of GNI*), although this had not been sufficient to raise it to the level that would be expected in an economy at Ireland’s overall stage of development. In 2019, despite a continued increase in the level of public expenditure, a significant fall in business expenditure on R&D led Ireland’s overall research intensity - R&D as a percentage of GDP - to fall to 0.78% (or 1.30% of GNI*), which is well below the 2019 EU average of 2.20% and an EU objective of 3%. In addition, a significant share of public support for R&D in firms continues to come through the research and development tax credit, rather than direct support to SMEs. Social and territorial cohesion Despite the strong poverty-reducing effect of social transfers, social challenges remain due to the limited availability of services, especially in disadvantaged communities, and shortages in affordable and social housing. While the risk of poverty or social exclusion was close to the EU average in 2019, child poverty remained consistently above the EU average (23.2% in Ireland vs 22.2% in the EU27), and severe material deprivation increased for the first time since 2012. The active inclusion of people furthest away from the labour market continues to be hampered by the limited availability of integrated services, including targeted and personal social and active labour market services. Homelessness and housing availability, especially affordable and social housing, remain structural challenges in Ireland, having clear detrimental impacts on health equity and social cohesion. Both the risk of poverty and levels of disposable income vary between the Irish regions. The risk of poverty is below the national average in the Eastern and Midlands (10.8%) and at the national average in the Southern region (13.4%), while it is significantly above the national average in the Northern and Western region (18.9%). Disposable income follows the same spatial pattern and is particularly low in predominantly rural remote areas at the border with Northern Ireland and in the centre of the country. The COVID-19 crisis is adding to the already existing challenges in the labour market, including the high prevalence of quasi-jobless households, youth unemployment, and the increasing gap in gender employment. In 2019, the proportion of households with very low work intensity remained the second highest in the EU (13.6% in Ireland vs 8.3% in the EU27), while youth unemployment increased from 12.5% in 2019 to 16.8% in the fourth quarter of 2020 (vs the average of 7.2% in all age groups). The gender employment gap increased for the second consecutive year in 2019 (to 12.4 percentage points), further diverging from the EU average (11.7 percentage points in 2019). This situation might have further deteriorated due to the pandemic. The employment gap between people with and without disabilities remained one of the highest in the EU (40.3 percentage points). Health, and economic, social and institutional resilience Ireland faces several challenges in its healthcare system, including cost-effectiveness, recruitment and retention of healthcare professionals, and certain deficiencies in public procurement. Ireland remains the only country in Western Europe without universal access to primary care. Challenges regarding workforce planning have led to a lack of control over the hiring process of health workers, which in turn has led to repeated budget overspends. The Irish healthcare system is relatively expensive compared to the rest of the EU, and the high proportion of non-government health spending contributes to driving up costs and inequity. In addition, Ireland’s long-term care system is over-reliant on institutional care, while home-care, which is a key part of long-term care services in many other EU Member States and is more efficient and appropriate for addressing low to middle levels of dependency, has been historically underprovided. Another challenge Ireland faces is the recruitment and retention of healthcare workers to meet the ever-growing demand for healthcare, despite comparatively high salaries. This is due to several factors, including long working hours and limited access to training and career development opportunities. Ireland also witnessed significant medical emigration. Lastly, the Irish Comptroller and Auditor General concluded that there is systematic non-compliance with procurement requirements in the health service, with goods and services being procured in a non-competitive manner. The quality and efficiency of the justice system could be improved. Businesses face high legal costs and legal processes can be cumbersome. According to the 2021 EU justice scoreboard, the number of judges per inhabitant remains the lowest in the EU, which could affect the efficiency of the Irish justice system. In the justice plan 2021, the government has committed to reviewing the numbers and types of judges needed to ensure the efficient administration of justice over the next five years. The length of proceedings remains a challenge and the Parliament is currently discussing on a Criminal Procedure draft, which could provide for a faster and more efficient court process for certain offences. Regarding digitalisation of the justice system, Ireland scores below the EU average, in particular with regard to the e-filing of incoming non-criminal cases, the case management system and the production of statistical data. Measures are being taken to address those challenges. Regarding taxation, several issues remain. First, the Exchequer has become increasingly reliant on revenues from few multinational firms. The volatile and potentially transitory nature of these revenues, along with a narrow tax base tend to reduce revenue stability and the effectiveness of automatic stabilisers. Second, the limited application of withholding taxes on royalty and dividend payments going out of Ireland may lead to payments being taxed at a very low rate or escaping tax altogether in their destination jurisdiction. While the Irish anti-money laundering framework is strong in many aspects, challenges remain. Ireland faces risks due to its internationally oriented economy and complex legal structures. It has just adopted a Bill transposing the most recent EU standards as regards anti-money laundering. Ireland completed its updated assessment of legal entities and arrangements in 2020, which recognised money laundering threats and vulnerabilities of companies as significant to very significant. Transparency of beneficial ownership is a key tool to avoid misuse of such legal entities and arrangements. For this reason, it is important that the beneficial ownership register contains sufficient, accurate and up to date information. Risk-based supervision of professionals servicing companies and trusts is yet to be fully implemented – supervisors of these professionals are often self-regulatory bodies, and there is little evidence of them providing recommendations, guidance or activity reports. A key supervisor, the Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Unit, lacks the power to issue administrative penalties for non-compliance. Policies for the next generation, children and youth, including education and skills. Progress can still be made in addressing the digital divide, digitalising schools and in digital learning. Ireland has implemented the digital strategy for schools (2015-2020) and continues to implement the digital learning framework and the supporting investment. Nevertheless, the 2019 EU survey on ICT in schools showed that only 52% of primary school pupils could access their virtual learning environment from outside the school premises, compared to the EU average of 81%, while only 33% of primary school students attended digitally well-equipped and connected schools (vs the EU average of 35%), indicating further investment needs, in particular for connectivity and support for the disadvantaged students. According to the 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) from the OECD secondary school students in Ireland are less likely than students in other countries to use digital devices for classwork in school or at home. As the COVID-19 crisis risks increasing educational inequalities it is essential that all schools and especially disadvantaged students have better access to digital infrastructure. 2.3.Challenges related to the green and digital transition An overarching objective of the Recovery and Resilience Facility is to support the green and digital transitions, for which Ireland still faces several challenges. Ireland’s ambition to ‘future proof its economy and society’ includes the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2050, as well as objectives regarding online and digital services, remote working, and broader use of automation – including through education and skills. The climate action plan and national energy and climate plan (NECP) represent a breakthrough compared to previous policy, and the Programme for Government commits Ireland to increase further its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. This section sets out where Ireland stands in achieving targets related to the green and digital transitions.

Green dimension The recovery and resilience plan should contribute to the green transition and at least 37% of the financial allocation needs to contribute to climate objectives. The measures in the plan should contribute to achieving the 2050 climate neutrality objective, and the 2030 energy and climate targets, taking into account Member States’ national energy and climate plans. They should also contribute to meeting environmental targets for waste, water, pollution control, sustainable mobility, biodiversity protection and restoration, marine and water resources, and support the transition to sustainable food systems as well as to a circular economy, while ensuring that nobody is left behind. Greenhouse gas emissions The climate action plan raises the level of ambition in tackling climate challenges. Achieving the 2030 climate and energy targets will nevertheless be a major challenge. Recent trends in emissions, particularly for transport and buildings, and the sectoral composition of these emissions point to insufficient mitigation efforts so far and highlight the scale of the efforts ahead. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ireland projected that in 2020 emissions in sectors not covered by the EU emissions trading system (EU ETS) would have fallen by 2-4% compared to 2005 levels – well short of the -20% target. Similarly, Ireland is expected to have fallen short of the 2020 energy efficiency and renewable energy targets by several percentage points, and progress remains particularly slow in the heating and cooling and transport sectors . This means that the emissions trajectory between 2021 and 2030 will be steep and requires mitigation efforts to be significantly intensified. The climate action plan is a breakthrough after previously subdued policy action. The climate action plan represents a transformative agenda for the entire economy and some important measures have been implemented already, including (i) the carbon tax increases under Budget 2020 and Budget 2021 with further annual increases planned to reach a level of EUR 100 per tonne of CO2 by 2030, and (ii) a new renewable electricity support scheme to help achieve the 70% renewable electricity target by 2030. The success of the climate action plan will largely depend on its consistent and effective implementation, as well as on policies and measures being constantly reviewed and updated. The NECP mitigation target is in line with current EU legislation at around -30% in sectors not covered by the EU ETS . While Ireland’s contribution to the EU’s renewable energy target – 34.1% of gross final energy consumption by 2030 – is ambitious, the level of ambition for energy efficiency remains low. Ireland recently announced it would step up its mitigation ambition by 2030. The Programme for Government commits Ireland to reducing overall greenhouse gas emissions by 7% per year on average over 2021-2030, which is a significant improvement compared to the ambition set out under the NECP. To fulfil such a level of ambition over the rest of the decade, additional policies and measures will need to be devised rapidly under the climate action plan and a revised NECP. In the Finance Act of 2020, Ireland set out that the carbon tax would be increased to EUR 100 per tonne of CO2 by 2030, with an increase of EUR 7.50 each year until 2029 and of EUR 6.50 in 2030. Implementing policies and measures will be critical to Ireland achieving the 2030 Climate targets. The climate action plan and NECP will steer public, business and household investment towards low or zero emission projects, but the impact on actual investment decisions will only materialise fully if policies and measures continue to be implemented over the coming years. Achieving the planned reduction in emissions – in particular in agriculture, buildings and transport – will require further complementary and specific measures to go from broader objectives and ambitions to implementation. Ireland will also need to specify its strategy for tackling greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, mainly biogenic methane. Energy efficiency Energy efficiency policies remain pertinent given energy consumption increased in the years before the onset of the COVID crisis. While the national energy and climate plan presented a comprehensive set of measures, Ireland’s contribution to the EU target still remains low in ambition. The potential for energy efficiency is particularly high. First, the long-term renovation strategy adopted in 2020 is expected to play an important role in addressing investment needs and delivering the various economic and health benefits of building retrofits. Second, the 30% CO2 emissions reduction and 50% energy efficiency targets for the public sector are also expected to play an important driving role. Lastly, whilst the largest investment in the recovery and resilience plan is a rail project, other national measures, including a target of 926 000 electric vehicles on the road by 2030, or aiming at increasing investments in public transport and modal shift, will contribute to tap into the energy saving potential of the transport sector. Energy efficiency will also be crucial in supporting the achievement of other objectives. This is the case in particular as regards security of supply and renewables, but also in the context of the expected rapid development of data centres. Share of renewables in energy mix Ireland has made progress in transforming its electricity system. It has accelerated its phase-out of coal and peat and reached a 43% renewables share in its electricity consumption in 2020. However, to reach the 70% renewable electricity target by 2030 the deployment of renewables, in particular onshore and offshore wind, needs to be considerably speeded up. The upgrading of network infrastructure and storage, as well as interconnectors, such as the Celtic Interconnector between Ireland and France, will also be key in facilitating the uptake of renewable generation and reducing energy prices. Investments needs Ireland has not yet comprehensively evaluated private and public investment needs related to the 2030 targets and the transition towards a climate-neutral economy. Such an assessment is critical in order to inform the design of policies and measures to achieve long-term climate mitigation objectives. At the same time, Ireland’s NECP and climate action plan provide a strong basis for the design of climate and energy-related aspects of its plan, including in energy efficiency, energy infrastructure and renewables, sustainable transport and climate governance. Regarding climate governance, enacting the Climate Action and Low-Carbon Development (Amendment) Bill 2021 is a major priority. This new legislation is expected to define the framework under which national and sectoral 5-yearly carbon budgets will be set, as well as define targets against which progress will be monitored. Sustainable transport Making Ireland’s transportation sustainable and meeting emissions reduction targets will be challenging, although some progress has been made in facilitating investments. On the back of the economic recovery since 2013, transport emissions gradually increased from 10.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent in 2012 to 12.2 million tonnes in 2019. Transport was the second largest contributor among non-ETS sectors to greenhouse gas emissions at 20.1% of the total in 2018, only behind agriculture (32.7%), with private cars being the largest source of emissions within the sector. New technologies, infrastructure investment and roll-out, as well as fiscal measures, may help Ireland meet its emissions reduction targets. Specific actions will also need to be taken to reduce diesel emissions from transport, which is responsible for excessive nitrogen dioxide emissions in breach of the Air Quality Directive. Biodiversity and zero pollution Ireland faces significant challenges in its transition to a circular economy. Waste generation in Ireland is 20% higher than the EU average, and progress made on increasing recycling rates has slowed over recent years. The circular use of materials in Ireland was only 1.6% in 2019, well below the EU average of 11.9%. More incentives and investments are needed to equip Ireland with a more ambitious waste and circular economy strategy, while avoiding the pitfalls of creating excessive incineration capacity. Challenges also remain as regards protecting and restoring healthy ecosystems. While Ireland has largely completed its terrestrial Natura 2000 designations, there is still work to be carried out for marine sites where Ireland has one of the smallest protected area networks (2% compared to an EU average of 9%). Progress on this will be particularly important given Ireland’s ambitions to expand offshore renewables, in order to ensure that such expansion is underpinned with a clear understanding of potential impacts on marine habitats. Key pressures such as those from agriculture also present a challenge. Within the designated Natura 2000 network of sites, only 15% of habitats are in favourable condition, with over half showing ongoing decline. The Irish environmental strategy does not seem to address sufficiently the recent rise in ammonia emissions to air, as well as the increased pressure on water quality and biodiversity from the agricultural sector. Furthermore, the climate action plan and NECP do not provide enough details on how Ireland intends to increase its carbon sinks, in a manner that would also deliver on its biodiversity protection targets.

Less than 50% of waste waters in Ireland are treated in compliance with EU law, although some progress has been made in facilitating investments in this area. The most significant pressure on surface water quality in Ireland stems from excessive nutrients from both untreated waste waters and agriculture. Significant upgrades in infrastructure are needed as is a more robust approach to controlling emissions to water from agriculture. Table 3 provides an overview of Ireland’s objectives, targets and contributions under Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action. Table 3: Objectives, targets and contributions under Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 National targets and contributions Latest available data 2020 2030 Assessment of 2030 ambition level Binding target for greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2005 under the Effort Sharing Regulation (%) -4% -20% -30% As in the ESR National target/contribution for renewable energy: Share of energy from renewable sources in gross final consumption of energy (%) 12% (2019) 16% 34.1% Sufficiently ambitious (31% is the result of the RES formula) National contribution for energy efficiency: Primary energy consumption (Mtoe) 14.7 13.9 13.7 Low ambition Final energy consumption (Mtoe) 12.4 11.7 11.2 Low ambition Level of electricity interconnectivity (%) 7.4% N.A. N.A N.A. Source: Assessment of the final national energy and climate plan of Ireland, SWD (2020) 906 final Digital dimension The recovery and resilience plan should contribute to the digital transition and at least 20% of the financial allocation needs to contribute to digital objectives. The measures in the plan should, inter alia, contribute to the digital transformation of the economic and social sectors (including public administrations, businesses and healthcare systems). The objective of the measures in the plan should be to improve not only the competitiveness, but also the resilience, agility and security of private and public actors, all while ensuring inclusiveness. Ireland performs above the EU average in the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI). It ranked sixth in the EU in DESI 2020. Ireland is doing particularly well on integrating digital technologies in businesses, ranking first in the EU for the integration of digital technology and maintaining a leading position in the use of e-commerce by SMEs in DESI 2020. More specifically, according to Eurostat, 32% of SMEs sold online in 2020 and 18% sold cross-border in 2019, well above the EU averages of 17% and 8% respectively. On the other hand, Irish SMEs are closer to or even below the EU average when it comes to adopting other e-business technologies (such as supply chain management, enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, radio frequency identification). According to the European Investment Bank, the construction and manufacturing sectors, which together account for almost a third of SMEs in Ireland, are lagging behind other sectors in adopting digital technologies. The use of digital technologies in the public sector has also been above the EU average. In DESI 2020, Ireland ranked ninth in the digital public services. In 2020, Ireland performed very well in open data and provision of digital public services for citizens and businesses. Digitalisation efforts could further improve the efficiency of, and simplify formalities in, the customs and judicial systems. Ireland is also above EU average in the 2020 eGovernment Benchmark report. Ireland scores particularly well on user-centricity of digital public services. However, significant improvements can still be made on cross-border electronic identification, both for citizens and for businesses. While Ireland has faced infrastructural challenges for the digital transition in the past, there have been significant connectivity improvements in 2020. Notably, fixed very-high capacity network coverage rocketed from 35% of households in 2019 to 83% in 2020 and is now well above the EU average of 59% . Ireland is also continuing to take measures to further improve connectivity. Nevertheless, the share of households with fixed broadband connection is not fully even across regions (88% in urban areas, against 82% in intermediate areas and 69% in rural areas in 2020), which indicates an area for improvement. The long delay in transposing Article 8 of the Broadband Cost Reduction Directive 2014/61/EU could hinder further deployment of high-speed electronic communications networks to reach all end-users. Regarding the pioneer 5G spectrum bands awards, Ireland has already assigned the 3.6 GHz band in 2017, the auction for the 700 MHz band commenced in April 2021 and for the 26 GHz band Ireland had found no evidence of market demand during a public consultation However, the monitoring of market demand is ongoing. In addition, as Ireland is only connected to other Member States by way of non-EU countries (the United Kingdom and the United States), multiple plans for direct submarine cable systems are particularly relevant . In DESI 2020, Ireland continued to rank 11th in human capital. Further efforts to improve digital skills are important, as a relatively low percentage of the population has at least basic digital skills (according to Eurostat, 53% in 2019, below the EU average of 56%). This may hinder people without basic digital skills from actively participating in a society increasingly reliant on digital tools and could hold back improvements in the productivity and competitiveness of Irish companies. Although Ireland aims to address these shortages in its ‘Future Jobs Ireland 2019’ framework, action remains limited. While people’s digital skills continue to be improved through dedicated programmes, such as the explore and skills to advance programmes and the digital skills for citizens grant scheme, there is no evidence yet that these programmes are significantly addressing the digital divide. Ireland appears to be on course to achieving the objectives of its ‘Innovation 2020’ strategy for R&D, science and technology. It is currently developing a successor strategy (2021-2027). Progress made so far includes the creation and maintenance of research centres by Science Foundation Ireland. Ireland has also established a Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund, to encourage industry – especially SMEs – and the research sector to collaborate on developing and deploying disruptive technologies and applications on a commercial basis. Ireland’s other initiatives to forge a close relationship between companies and research institutes and to help SMEs profit from such relationships are ‘technology centres’, ‘technology gateways’ and ‘knowledge transfer Ireland’. The expansion of the digital sector should not come at the expense of rising greenhouse gas emissions. The activities of large IT multinationals, especially as they involve data centres, generate a high level of demand for electricity. Therefore, ensuring that further expansion in the sector does not lead to increased CO2 emissions and compromise Ireland’s climate objectives and commitments will require not only that the share of renewables in electricity production reaches the projected targets, but that this also happens in the context of rising electricity demand from the IT sector. Ireland is making progress in that regard. Efforts are underway to improve the development and deployment of advanced technologies in Ireland, including the adoption of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy. Only 35% of businesses in Ireland use at least one AI technology (below the EU average of 42%), and regarding the uptake of two or more AI technologies Ireland is among the bottom three in the EU (14% of businesses, below the EU average of 25%). To accelerate the development and deployment of advanced technologies, CeADAR (Ireland’s national centre for applied data analytics and AI) has been approved for public funding, matched with a contribution from industry and competitive sources. Moreover, the Commission selected CeADAR to form a network for cross-border cooperation on AI, to help SMEs benefit from it. Ireland is also a member of the European High-Performance Computing (HPC) Joint Undertaking. To make full use of its supercomputing/HPC potential, Ireland needs to increase its supercomputing capabilities, step up HPC scientific and industrial application, foster SME uptake of HPC and strengthen the national HPC competence centre with advanced education and training activities. Finally, Ireland advocates that all new government systems exploit the opportunities of cloud deployment and has announced a review of all existing systems for cloud capability. Figure 1: Digital Economy and Society Index 2020 – relative performance by dimension Note: EU aggregate corresponds to the EU-28, based on the 2020 DESI report .

Box 1: Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals Sustainable Development Goals and the four dimensions underpinning the Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy.

The objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been integrated in the European Semester since the 2020 cycle. This provides a strong commitment towards sustainability in coordination of economic and employment policies in the EU. In that respect, this section outlines Ireland’s performance with respect to SDGs with particular relevance for the four dimensions underpinning the 2021 annual sustainable growth strategy and of relevance to the recovery and resilience plans (green transition, fairness, digital transition and productivity, and macroeconomic stability), indicating possible areas where investments and reforms in line with the objectives of the RRF could further accelerate the progress on the SDGs. Green Transition Ireland can still improve its performance in addressing SDGs related to the green transition. The country has mixed results on the use of circular material (SDG11 – ‘sustainable cities and communities’ and SDG12 – ‘responsible consumption and production’): waste generation in Ireland is higher than the EU average, while at the same time the recycling rate has stagnated over the last few years and remains below EU average. On SDG7 – ‘affordable and clean energy’, Ireland is almost at EU average: while it has performed well on ‘energy affordability’, its share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption was 12.0% in 2019, below the EU average (19.7%), making it dependent on imported fossil fuels. Ireland also lags behind the EU average in SDG13 – ‘climate action’ as the recent trend in emissions is not in line with climate objectives. However, progress is being made on this SDG, as the mitigation ambition for 2030 is being stepped up significantly and associated policies and measures are being prepared, alongside a new and significantly reinforced climate governance framework. Fairness In the years preceding the COVID-19 crisis, Ireland performed relatively well in terms of fairness. For instance, the ratio of total income received by the top quintile to that of the bottom quintile of households decreased from 4.8 in 2012 to 4.0 in 2019 – a relatively low value when compared to an EU-27 average of 5.0 in 2019. Ireland made significant progress in addressing SDG 1 – ‘no poverty’ and SDG 8 – ‘decent work and economic growth’. In the five years to 2018, Ireland surpassed the EU average level in almost all dimensions related to these SDGs. However, for 2019, there were some signs of a deteriorating performance. For the first time since 2012, the shares of people who are severely materially deprived and people living in very low work intensity households increased. The share of people living in overcrowded conditions increased for the first time since 2015. Within SDG 8 – ‘decent work and economic growth’, Ireland continued to perform well, except for the share of people who are inactive due to caring responsibilities, which remained well above the EU average in 2019. Furthermore, Ireland scored moderately well within SDG 5 – ‘gender equality’. However, the gender employment gap continued to increase and remained above the EU average in 2019, having narrowed considerably in the period leading to 2012. Ireland performed consistently above the EU average in SDG 4 – ‘quality education’. Digital transition and productivity As mentioned above, Ireland performs well overall in SDG 8 – ‘decent work and economic growth’ as well as in SDG 9 – ‘industry, innovation, and infrastructure’. Ireland performs very well regarding R&D related budget allocations for the ICT sector as a share of total R&D related budget allocations: in 2018 Ireland had the second highest share in the EU (15%). By further intensifying policy efforts, Ireland could make further progress on the SDGs related to the digital transition and productivity as several challenges remain. Gross domestic expenditure on R&D was only 0.8% of GDP in 2019 (or 1.3% of GNI*), compared to the EU-27 average of 2.2% and an EU objective of 3%. Moreover, although gross domestic expenditure on R&D is growing in absolute terms, Ireland has not achieved the target of 2% of GDP by 2020 and is now aiming to reach that target only in 2025. Regarding the business R&D intensity rate in ICT, Ireland scored below the EU-28 average in 2017. Macroeconomic stability While Ireland is performing well in SDG 8 – ‘decent work and economic growth’, the pandemic heightened risks of a reversal in the gains of recent years. The share of young people neither in employment nor in education has been steadily declining from 22.3% in 2011 to 11.2% in 2019, but due to the pandemic this share increased to 13.4% in 2020. 3.Objectives, structure and governance of the plan 3.1.Overall strategy of the plan The Irish plan aims to address climate, biodiversity, and digitalisation challenges, in the context of transitioning to a more sustainable society and economy as Ireland recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. The plan includes 9 reforms and 16 investments, covering a range of challenges identified in the context of the European Semester and the country-specific recommendations addressed to Ireland, while focussing predominantly on addressing the twin – digital and green – transition, as well as supporting the economic and social recovery and job creation. The plan’s strategy is structured around three components. The first component focusses on advancing the green transition. The component includes two reforms and seven investments, for a total financial envelope of EUR 518 million. The component has an overall climate contribution of 37%, and a digital contribution of approximately 2%. The component contributes to addressing Ireland’s climate and biodiversity challenges and aims to accelerate the decarbonisation of the Irish economy. It includes the introduction of key environmental policies that are expected to strengthen the overall green governance framework, as well as commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 51% in 2030 compared to 2018 levels. Measures in the component aim to direct relevant funding towards decarbonising projects, such as retrofitting of residential buildings and reducing emissions in the enterprise sector, and towards green data systems that have the potential to support businesses in accelerating their efforts to reduce emissions. The component also addresses sustainable transport through an investment that aims to prepare for the future electrification of railways in Cork and addresses transport congestion. A number of measures contribute to biodiversity and enhancing ecosystem resilience and rehabilitation while increasing the carbon sink. Measures to encourage research and innovation also form part of this component. The second component centres on accelerating and expanding digital reforms and transformation. The component includes one reform and six investments, for a total financial envelope of EUR 291 million. The component has an overall climate contribution of almost 2%, and a digital contribution of 29%. The component addresses the challenges of the digital transformation by supporting the digitalisation of public services and companies, and improving digital skills. The objective of the component is to accelerate and expand the country’s digital transformation by supporting the digitalisation of enterprises, addressing the risk of the digital divide, including in the education sector, enhancing digital skills, and supporting the development of digital infrastructure and the delivery of digital public services. The third component aims to support social and economic recovery and job creation. The component includes six reforms and three investments, for a total financial envelope of EUR 181 million. The component has an overall climate contribution of 3%. The measures in this component aim to: (i) keep those who are unemployed close to the labour market; (ii) equip the Irish workforce with the necessary future-oriented skills that are required to boost the innovation and productivity of the SME sector and skills, including in support of climate action; and (iii) contribute to strengthening the overall social and economic policy framework, to help maximise investments in activation support and upskilling. The component addresses a range of challenges: (i) the need to foster activation strategies; (ii) the need to address skill shortages and prepare the workforce for the green and digital transitions; (iii) the need to lower regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship; (iv) the need to strengthen the anti-money laundering framework; (v) the need to address features of the tax system that facilitate aggressive tax planning; (vi) the need to implement pension reform plans; (vii) the need to address shortages in social housing supply and improve housing affordability; and (viii) the need to improve the accessibility, resilience, and cost-effectiveness of the healthcare system. Table 4: Components and associated costs Component Costs (EUR million) 1 Advancing the green transition 518 2 Accelerating and expanding digital reforms and transformation 291 3 Social and economic recovery and job creation 181 3.2.Implementation aspects of the plan Consistency with other programmes

The plan is aligned with Ireland’s national policy framework and is consistent as well as complementary with other national initiatives and priorities. The priorities and policy objectives of Ireland’s national development plan and economic recovery plan are reflected in the recovery and resilience plan, as are European priorities such as ensuring a just transition, advancing the twin transition and ensuring a high level of social and territorial cohesion. The plan increases the level of ambition associated with the national energy and climate plan. Ireland is in the process of updating its climate action policies and plans to reflect the new more ambitious climate targets set out in the recovery and resilience plan. Consistency with the challenges and priorities identified in the most recent euro area recommendation The Irish recovery and resilience plan is consistent with the challenges and priorities identified in the most recent Draft Council Recommendation on economic policy in the euro area. First, the plan contains several measures that are expected to support the recovery. In this respect, the work placement experience programme is expected to help combat the labour-market impact of the crisis, while the eHealth and health reform measures have the potential to support the accessibility and cost-effectiveness of the healthcare system. Second, measures in the plan also have the potential to further improve convergence, resilience, and sustainable and inclusive growth. The measures in components 1 and 2 of the plan are expected to increase public investment and foster private investment to support a recovery consistent with the green and digital transitions, while also aiming to support a shift towards carbon pricing and environmental taxation. The measures under component 3 have the potential to strengthen inclusion and support job transitions, as well as to make further progress in combatting aggressive tax planning. Third, the plan is expected to strengthen national institutional frameworks, by among others digitalising public administration and aiming to lower barriers to entrepreneurship with an SME test. Finally, the plan has the potential to strengthen the European regulatory and supervisory framework by reinforcing the supervision and enforcement capacities of Ireland’s anti-money laundering framework. Coordination and implementation framework The Implementing Body for the plan will be located in the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. This body is expected to be responsible for the strategic monitoring and management of the plan. It is expected to report to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, who should inform the government cabinet every six months on the implementation of the committed milestones and targets, relating both to investments and reforms, along with Ireland’s draw down of funds. The Implementing Body should act as a single point of contact for the Commission on a day-to-day basis. It is expected to: (i) provide all necessary reports and requests for disbursements; (ii) ensure coordination with other relevant authorities; (iii) report on progress on milestones and targets; (iv) oversee implementation of control measures; (v) provide technical and systems support; and (vi) communicate at national level to promote and publicise the Union’s funding. It is also expected to collect information on EU funding sources from the RRF information system, as shared by Departments and other bodies responsible for individual projects. This information is expected to be communicated to other fund managers in order to allow for complementarity to be assessed and to mitigate risks of double funding. The Implementing Body is expected to work in close cooperation with the newly established Delivery Committee. The Delivery Committee should meet on at least a quarterly basis, maintain oversight over the implementation of the plan, and address issues as they arise. The Delivery Committee is to be chaired by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, and deputy co-chaired by the Department of Taoiseach and Department of Finance, at senior official level. These departments were also leading the preparatory technical discussions with the European Commission. While the Implementing Body and Delivery Committee are expected to monitor the implementation of the plan and be responsible for exchanges with the EU institutions, responsibility for implementing the individual measures lies with the relevant Departments and bodies (as per the Table 5 below). Responsible Department/other body Investments Reforms Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment 1.1 Derisking a low cost residential retrofit loan scheme 1.6. Enhanced rehabilitation of peatlands 1.8. Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (amendment) Bill Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment 1.2 Accelerate decarbonisation of the enterprise sector 2.2. Programme to drive digital transformation of enterprise in Ireland 3.4. Reducing regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship. Department of Transport 1.4. Enable future electrification through targeted investment in Cork commuter rail Department of Social Protection 3.1. Work placement experience programme Department of Finance 1.9. Carbon tax 3.6. Aggressive tax planning 3.7. Pensions Department of Health 2.6. Suite of eHealth projects 3.9 Health reforms Department of Further, Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Skills 1.5. National grand challenges programme 3.2. SOLAS recovery skills response programme 3.3. Technological universities transformation fund 2.7. Address digital divide and enhancing digital skills (with D/Education and Skills) Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage 1.7. River basin management plan - enhanced ambition programme 3.8. Increase provision of social and affordable housing Department of Education and Skills 2.3. Programme to provide digital infrastructure and funding to schools 2.7. Address digital divide/ digital skills (with D/ Further, Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Skills) Department of Justice 3.5. Anti-money laundering Central Statistics Office 2.4. Provision of an online response option for the census of population Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO) 2.5. Using 5G technologies to drive a greener more innovative Ireland 2.1 Development of a shared government data centre Office of Public Works (OPW) 1.3 Public sector retrofit pathfinder project Gender equality and equal opportunities for all With regard to gender equality and equal opportunities for all, the plan describes challenges regarding gender equality as well as challenges faced by persons with disabilities, Roma and Travellers, LGBTIQ+ people and people with a minority racial background in Ireland. The section on gender equality and equal opportunities for all briefly explains which reforms and investments contribute to overcoming the challenges identified, while the detailed descriptions in part 2 of the plan also include information on whether and how equality considerations were taken into account in each measure. Several measures are expected to contribute to addressing challenges related to gender equality and equal opportunities for all. The plan refers notably to the work placement experience programme and the SOLAS recovery skills response programme aiming to provide work experience, reskilling and upskilling opportunities to workers adversely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis – among whom women in vulnerable situations might be overrepresented. With regard to monitoring, the plan refers to overall employment levels disaggregated by gender and age, as well as to the gender employment gap as key metrics, which are due to be used at the national level to measure Ireland’s recovery efforts, including the contribution of the plan. The plan also refers to the Public Service Equality and Human Rights Duty and to the cross-governmental equality strategies, which aim to address the particular needs of specific groups such as Travellers and Roma, people of African or Asian descent, LGBTIQ+, migrants and persons with disabilities. It points to the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 crisis on these groups, including in relation to housing conditions, health status and the loss of jobs in sectors highly impacted by the pandemic. Stakeholder consultations The consultation process was relatively brief. In February 2021 the Department of the Taoiseach opened a public consultation website setting out process and parameters for the recovery and resilience plan, and requested stakeholder input on two questions: ·‘What areas should Ireland prioritise for investments and reforms for inclusion in the plan?’ ·‘What Country Specific Recommendations received by Ireland in 2019 and 2020 are considered the most relevant for reflection upon in Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan?’ Stakeholders could provide their contribution during a 20-day period, and the government received over 110 written submissions, including from regional representatives, political parties, business associations, trade unions, youth organisations, environmental organisations, academia, other civil society stakeholders, and members of the public. The submissions were summarised and shared with relevant government Departments as part of the plan development. A summary of the public consultation process and how this consultation has been reflected in the plan is included in the plan itself. Security self-assessment The plan does not include a security self-assessment for investments in digital capacities and connectivity. The connectivity measures included in the plan do not involve the deployment of public 5G networks. Cross-border projects

Ireland included one multi-country project in its plan to support the digitalisation of companies in Ireland, particularly of SMEs. To tackle the unbalanced digitalisation among companies (see Section 2.3), the plan includes the programme to drive digital transformation of companies, particularly SMEs, across all sectors in Ireland. Digital transition of the Irish enterprise through this programme is expected to be further supported through Ireland’s participation in the European digital innovation hubs (EDIHs) network, in the context of a multi-country project. The establishment of four EDIHs and the creation of clusters anchored by the EDIHs are expected to be an important facilitator of cross-border collaboration which is also expected to strengthen value chains. Communication The plan contains a short description of a communication strategy. A dedicated website is expected to ensure delivery of communications on the plan. The website www.gov.ie is a central portal for all government services, communications and information in Ireland, and the recovery and resilience plan webpage is expected to act as the main repository of information. A detailed plan for communication actions at national and measure levels should be developed, to raise public awareness, promote the benefits of EU funding and give visibility to the reforms and investments. The Implementing Body is expected to be responsible for all communication actions at programme level. There is no further specification of these actions. The plan indicates that an appropriate funding statement will be a condition of funding for beneficiaries, which is in line with the requirements of Article 34(2) of the RRF Regulation. It is essential that the described communication plan be fully developed and implemented. Coordination between EU and national authorities, as mentioned in the recovery and resilience plan, should be pursued to maximise the impact and effectiveness of communications. State aid State aid and competition rules fully apply to the measures funded by the Recovery and Resilience Facility. Union funds channelled through the authorities of Member States, like the RRF funds, become State resources and can constitute State aid if all the other criteria of Article 107(1) TFEU are met. When this is the case and State aid is present, these measures must be notified and approved by the Commission before Member States can grant the aid, unless those measures are covered by an existing aid scheme or comply with the applicable conditions of a block exemption regulation, in particular the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) declaring certain categories of aid compatible with the internal market in application of Articles 107 and 108 TFEU. When State aid is present and it requires notification, it is the duty of the Member State to notify State aid measures to the Commission before granting them, in compliance with Article 108(3) TFEU. In this respect, the State aid analysis carried out by Ireland in the plan cannot be deemed a State aid notification. In as far as Ireland considers that a specific measure contained in the plan entails de minimis aid or aid exempted from the notification requirement, it is the responsibility of Ireland to ensure full compliance with the applicable rules. 4.Summary of the assessment of the plan 4.1.Comprehensive and adequately balanced response to the economic and social situation The Irish plan explains in detail how it addresses the six pillars of Article 3 of the RRF Regulation, namely: (i) green transition, (ii) digital transformation, (iii) smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, (iv) social and territorial cohesion, (v) health and economic, social and institutional resilience, and (vi) policies for the next generation. Table 6 below summarises the coverage of each of the components in the Irish plan to one or more of the six pillars. Table 6: Coverage of the six pillars of the RRF by the Irish plan components Green transition Digital transformation Smart, sustainable and inclusive growth Social and territorial cohesion Health and economic, social and institutional resilience Policies for the next generation 1 Advancing the green transition ● ○ ● ● ● 2 Accelerating and expanding digital reforms and transformation ○ ● ● ● ● ● 3 Social and economic recovery and job creation ○ ● ● ● ● Key: “●” investments and reforms of the component significantly contribute to the pillar; “○” the component partially contributes to the pillar Overall, the plan is adequately balanced and focuses on Ireland’s main challenges. The plan proposes an appropriate overall balance of reforms and investments addressing the six pillars (see Table 6 ), reflecting the overall financial allocation as well as the challenges the country faces. Pillar I: Green transition The green transition is supported predominantly through nine investments and two reforms that provide a roadmap to a low-carbon future for the Irish economy. The reforms enshrine key climate targets in national legislation, strengthen the climate governance framework and dis-incentivise the use of fossil fuels through carbon taxation. These reforms commit Ireland to a 51% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 2018 levels by 2030 and to becoming a climate neutral society (achieving net zero greenhouse gases emissions) by 2050. The carbon tax includes successive annual increases in the carbon tax rate, by EUR 7.50 per tonne of CO2 per year, following a trajectory that would lead to a rate of EUR 100 per tonne of CO2 in 2030. The measures in the plan are aligned with the national energy and climate plan for 2021-2030. Investments in the plan contribute to enhancing biodiversity, expanding sustainable transport and accelerating decarbonisation efforts. The plan supports carbon abatement measures through retrofitting and energy efficiency measures that have the potential to contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The construction of a shared Government data centre is expected to also lead to significant energy savings. The largest investment in the plan targets the transport sector. The investment in the Cork commuter rail aims to enable the future electrification of railways in the Cork metropolitan area and to expand sustainable mobility policy in the region that should reduce car use and increase the uptake of public transport, thus contributing to reducing emissions. The plan includes support for research, development and innovation, a substantial portion of which is earmarked for green projects. The plan also contributes to increased biodiversity through the restoration and rehabilitation of peatlands. Investments in waste water treatment plans are expected to also contribute to environmental objectives. In addition, the SOLAS green skills action programme is expected to contribute to upskilling efforts that have a clear focus on improving skills to progress the green transition and support climate action. Pillar II: Digital transformation The plan’s measures related to digital transformation are well anchored in the analysis of Ireland’s main challenges in digitalisation. While Ireland performs above the EU average in the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) (see Section 2.3), it still faces some fundamental challenges notably related to human capital. Component 2 (Accelerating and expanding digital reforms and transformation) is dedicated to the digital transition. Several measures aim to contribute to the digital transition by supporting the digitalisation of enterprises, addressing the risk of the digital divide, including in the education sector, enhancing digital skills, and supporting the development of digital infrastructure and the delivery of digital public services. Component 1 is also expected to partially contribute to the digital transformation. The plan contributes to addressing the key digital challenges by incentivising research teams to develop viable practical innovative solutions. The digital dimension of the national grand challenge programme focuses on eGovernment, eHealth and eInclusion.

Pillar III: Smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, including economic cohesion, jobs, productivity, competitiveness, research, development and innovation, and a well-functioning single market with strong SMEs All components of the plan are expected to significantly contribute directly to the third pillar. The green and digital components of the plan focus on smart and sustainable growth in particular, while the social and economic component of the plan has notable elements covering inclusive growth. The plan includes several measures that are expected to contribute to economic cohesion, jobs, productivity, competitiveness. It has a strong focus on facilitating the green transition. In particular, investment in the Cork commuter rail is expected to support economic cohesion by enhancing the strategic potential of Cork as a regional economic driver and to act as a counterbalance to Dublin. Measures to improve energy efficiency, such as labour-intensive renovations, are expected to contribute to creating jobs. Activation support and upskilling measures, such as the work placement experience programme and the SOLAS recovery skills response programme aim to reinforce these efforts, while also contributing to social inclusion. Investment in five new and emerging technological universities aims to complement these efforts by building capacity in education and training in technological universities. Supporting these efforts are measures that focus on research, development and innovation. The national grand challenge programme aims to facilitate the realisation of research and innovation projects across Government, on themes such as climate, health, digital and agriculture. The plan also supports the establishment of four European digital innovation hubs. The plan is also expected to contribute to a well-functioning internal market with strong SMEs. SMEs are generally supported by the above-mentioned measures, which have the potential to improve productivity and competitiveness. In addition, the SME test has the potential to reduce regulatory barriers to the business activity of SMEs. Finally, the plan aims to support the digital transformation of SMEs. Pillar IV: Social and territorial cohesion Several measures in the plan are expected to contribute to social cohesion. The work placement experience programme (WPEP) and the SOLAS recovery skills response programme focus on activation support and upskilling, with the aim to improve labour market outcomes. WPEP targets jobseekers who have been unemployed for six months or more, supporting them with work placement, training, and an allowance. The SOLAS recovery skills response programme seeks to equip workers with green skills and skills to transition into growth sectors of the economy by offering a range of educational and training programmes. Reforms also seek to improve the provision of social and affordable housing by improving the development of public land for the delivery of housing and introducing schemes that could increase housing affordability for low-income households. Finally, the long-term sustainability of welfare systems is expected to be supported by reforms that simplify and harmonise the supplementary pension landscape. Other measures also have the potential to contribute to territorial cohesion by addressing regional disparities. The technological universities transformation fund is expected to contribute to tackling regional disparities by building capacity in education and training in regionally based technological universities. Investment in the Cork commuter rail aims to support the sustainable growth of the metropolitan area by facilitating sustainable urban development. The investment in the suburban rail network is expected to provide greater integration with other existing and future public transport services in the Cork area. The rehabilitation of 33 000 hectares of peatlands is expected to contribute to the just transition in the Midlands, a territory whose economy has been hit by the exit from peat for electricity generation. In addition, the plan also aims at bridging the regional and digital divide by ensuring that learners of (post)-primary schools are equipped with the appropriate digital skills. Digital transformation of Irish education at all levels (schools, tertiary, lifelong learning) has the objective to mainstream essential digital skills across all settings. By way of illustration, the plan contains measures that aim to bring connectivity to 990 schools, many of which are in rural areas. In addition, the scheme aiming at the digital transformation of enterprise in Ireland is expected to target enterprises across the country, thereby also providing support and opportunities for companies located in less productive regions. Pillar V: Health, and economic, social and institutional resilience, with the aim of, inter alia, increasing crisis preparedness and crisis reaction capacity The plan contributes to the fifth pillar, as all components directly contribute to health and economic, social and institutional resilience. In particular, the plan includes investments and reforms of the healthcare system, measures to facilitate the green and digital transitions for both businesses and the workforce, and measures that may improve the effectiveness and resilience of public administration. Measures in the plan are expected to improve the healthcare system’s resilience. The introduction of a digital ePharmacy solution in hospitals is expected to support effective management of the health service and enable the integrated care delivery system. The deployment of an integrated financial management system aims to provide financial and procurement efficiencies, improve transparency and ultimately increase the capability of the finance function to support the health system. The introduction of the ‘public only’ Sláintecare consultant contract has the potential to improve the cost-effectiveness of the healthcare system, by ensuring all capacity currently available in the public system is used only for public healthcare activity. The expansion of participation in the chronic disease management programme is expected to make the health system more resilient by reducing the number of non-elective hospital admissions and by reducing bed days related to chronic disease treatment. The operationalisation of community healthcare networks may help build capacity in community care and help build more effective multi-disciplinary teams. By facilitating the green and digital transitions for both businesses and the workforce, the plan has the potential to reinforce economic and social resilience. The plan is expected to contribute to facilitating the green transition of enterprises, by improving their carbon footprint metering systems, without entailing operational losses. The plan aims also to incentivise enterprises to invest in abatement opportunities through support that is expected to contribute to decrease significantly the payback period of these investments. The plan is expected to support upskilling and reskilling efforts with a focus on the green transition, and thereby support climate action. The provision of social and affordable housing is expected to abide by environmental standards, thereby contributing to the green transition whilst promoting social resilience. The plan also addresses digitalisation needs of the Irish economy that were highlighted by the COVID-19 containment measures. The measure related to digitalisation of companies, mainly SMEs, is expected to reinforce their economic and social resilience and strengthen their capacity to participate in value chains across the EU, including through establishment of Irish European digital innovation hubs. Long term, the programme to provide digital infrastructure and funding to schools is expected to contribute to strengthening the sustainable growth potential, employment opportunities and resilience of young people. The reform measures under the digital component are expected to ensure that learners at all levels (schools, tertiary, lifelong learning) develop foundational skills to enable them to take part in the digital economy. Finally, the activation support and upskilling programmes are expected to help the Irish workforce transition towards new employment opportunities, including in ICT programming and web development. The effectiveness and resilience of public administration is expected to be increased through several measures. The plan aims at reinforcing the government’s digital capabilities. As currently there are disparate inefficient Government server rooms and data centres that are sub-optimal in terms of location, operational and cyber resilience, and physical risk, the plan aims to develop a shared Government data centre. In addition, the plan supports the digitalisation of the census operation. The next census in Ireland is due in 2026 and is expected to be conducted through a newly developed platform to enable households to complete their census return online. The measure also aims to better capture and analyse the data, to reduce both the burden on survey respondents and the cost to the State of collecting data while maintaining its quality and confidentiality. It also has a reuse potential for any large-scale data collection by public authorities. The introduction of the SME test is expected to help limit regulatory obstacles faced by SMEs when starting or growing their business. The reinforcement of the Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Unit’s capacity to conduct inspections, combined with the risk assessment of trust or company service providers, is expected to improve anti-money laundering supervision, while reforms also have to potential to strengthen anti-money laundering enforcement. Pillar VI: Policies for the next generation, children and the youth, such as education and skills The plan contributes to the sixth pillar, as two out of the three components directly contribute to policies for the next generation. Measures in the plan aim to help the next generation develop the necessary digital skills and support young people in gaining or regaining their footing in the labour market. Several measures support the next generation by ensuring they can develop the necessary digital skills for the future. The programme to provide digital infrastructure and funding to schools is expected to enable embedding digital technologies in teaching and learning and contribute to the development of key digital skills, as well as mitigate and lessen the educational and social impact of the crisis to ensure an inclusive recovery. The new Digital Strategy for Schools aims at realising the potential and further embedding of digital technologies in school activities. Ireland’s third ICT skills action plan aims to increase the number of ICT graduates by over 65% by the end of 2022. Finally, a grant is expected to support disadvantaged students in higher and further education in accessing ICT devices to facilitate the shift to online and blended models of learning. These measures are expected to address the risk of digital divide by focusing on digital skills throughout the education system and hence making it more resilient and better able to cope with disruptions with a specific focus on the next generation. The young unemployed are mentioned in the plan as a target group specifically benefitting from the reskilling and upskilling measures. The plan notes that young people are overrepresented in the sectors that have been most severely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. They are thus likely to particularly benefit from the work placement opportunities, associated allowances and training opportunities to be supported by the plan. Finally, the technological universities transformation fund is expected to support regionally based higher education and training, which may help improve the skills of young people and address regional disparities. Conclusion of the assessment under criterion 2.1 in Annex V to the RRF Regulation Taking into consideration all reforms and investments envisaged by Ireland, its recovery and resilience plan represents to a large extent a comprehensive and adequately balanced response to the economic and social situation, thereby contributing appropriately to all six pillars referred to in Article 3 of the RRF Regulation, taking the specific challenges and the financial allocation of Ireland into account. This would warrant a rating of A under the assessment criterion 2.1 in Annex V to the RRF Regulation.

4.2.Link with country-specific recommendations and the European Semester The plan provides a response to a significant subset of challenges faced by the Irish economy. The plan introduces reforms and investments aimed at addressing a significant number of challenges identified in the European Semester in 2019 and 2020. It contributes to addressing country-specific recommendations (CSRs) related to sustainable public transport, water, digital infrastructure, the digital divide in education, research and innovation, the front-loading of public investment, the promoting of private investment, employment through active integration support and upskilling, regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship, anti-money laundering, aggressive tax planning, social and affordable housing, pensions, and healthcare. Several of the reforms and investments also take into account regional disparities. Nonetheless, given the modest size of the financial contribution and the entrenched nature of some of the challenges, further efforts are needed in several areas in the coming years. Finally, some CSRs have already been addressed in a broadly satisfactory manner outside the plan, namely support to companies, particularly SMEs, through ensuring their liquidity (CSR 2020.3.1), increasing access to affordable and quality childcare (CSR 2019.2.2), and investment-related policy focused on the green transition (CSRs 2020.3.4 and 2019.3.1). The government has also fully put into place robust emergency policy measures to mitigate the negative economic impact of the crisis (CSR 2020.1.1). These included discretionary budgetary measures of 3.9% of GDP in support of the economy, which complement the operation of automatic stabilisers. Measures related to these areas were therefore not incorporated in the plan. A major objective of the plan is to accelerate the green transition, consistently with the CSRs for 2019 and 2020 (CSRs 2019.3 and 2020.3). Achieving the 2030 climate and energy targets, while transitioning to a circular economy, and protecting and restoring healthy ecosystems, will be a major challenge. The component relating to the advancing of the green transition includes a very broad scope of measures, promoting energy renovation for private or public buildings, aiming at decarbonising enterprises, promoting sustainable transport, addressing biodiversity challenges through the rehabilitation of peatlands and improvement of water treatment. The plan contains measures to improve efficiency in the clean and efficient production and use of energy (CSR 2020.3.4). In this regard, the plan includes two reforms. A first reform consists in the entry into force of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (amendment) Bill. Second, a carbon tax is expected to help decarbonise the economy by dis-incentivising the use of fossil fuels and encouraging the use of greener fuels by industry and society. The plan includes investment in sustainable transport (CSRs 2019.3.2 and 2020.3.5). Road congestion around larger cities, combined with the need to decarbonise the transport sector, points to investment opportunities in transport infrastructure. The plan contains a significant investment included in component 1, accounting for 17% of the total cost of the plan, which aims to enable the future electrification of Cork commuter rail. The measure includes three sub-investments. The first sub-investment includes the creation of an additional through-running line, with an additional platform at Kent station. The second sub-investment includes double tracking of the current single line between Glounthaune and Midleton. The third sub-investment relates to the re-signalling of the lines to facilitate increased frequency of services and the subsequent electrified service. Most importantly, Ireland’s commitment to purchase either electric or battery electric fleet is expected to contribute to the decarbonisation of the rolling stock. In addition this measure aims at bridging territorial divides by providing greater integration with other existing and future public transport services in the Cork area. The plan includes measures that are expected to improve water supply and treatment (CSR 2020.3.6). The plan addresses waste water treatment plants across Ireland. It includes a measure dedicated to waste water treatment that is expected to contribute to the sustainable use and protection of water. The main aim of the measure is to advance 10 priority waste water treatment plant projects whose discharges have been identified as putting significant pressures on receiving water bodies. In addition, the rehabilitation of peatland is expected to lead to enhanced biodiversity. It is also expected to contribute to water quality improvements, increased carbon storage and reduced carbon emissions. The plan includes measures that support the digital transition, including through investment in digital infrastructure (CSRs 2019.3.4 and 2020.3.8). Digital infrastructure is essential for boosting the productivity of SMEs and public services. The measures envisaging the building of a low latency edge platform and the development of a shared Government data centre focus the investment on the digital transition and in particular on the digital infrastructure. In a similar vein, the suite of eHealth projects advances the development