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How ERDF is structured in Ireland

Ireland runs ERDF as two regional programmes, not one national scheme, and the Regional Assemblies are the Managing Authorities. Under Priority 1 — research and innovation — the calls are not run by them: responsibility is delegated to Intermediate Bodies, so the body that publishes the call, assesses your application, verifies your claims and holds the relationship is Enterprise Ireland, Research Ireland or the HEA. Which programme you fall under is decided by geography. That sets how much of the money behind your call is EU money — not what you contribute yourself, which each scheme sets in its own call.

ERDF — the two regional programmesReg. (EU) 2021/1058 · CPR Reg. (EU) 2021/1060€880.8m across two programmes · €395.7m from the EU
One programme, too many disconnected records. Delivery notes, partner decisions, expenditure, results and reporting evidence often sit in different places.

How the money reaches an organisation

Every level here can be asked for its own process map. That is the point of yours.

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European Commission — DG REGIO
Approves both regional programmes under Reg. (EU) 2021/1058 and the Common Provisions Regulation — most recently as amended in December 2025 (Northern & Western) and March 2026 (Southern, Eastern & Midland). EU contribution across the two: €395.7m of the €880.8m total; the remaining €485m is Government of Ireland money.
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Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation (formerly DPER)
Overall responsibility for EU Cohesion Policy in Ireland. It receives the Commission’s payments and holds the ERDF accounting function — and it hosts the ERDF Audit Authority (its Internal & EU Audit Unit), which under Art. 71(2) is functionally independent of everyone it audits, including the rest of its own Department.
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Managing Authorities — Northern & Western Regional Assembly · Southern Regional Assembly
Two programmes. Northern & Western: €217.1m, a transition region — the EU pays 60% of the programme, the Irish Exchequer the rest. Southern, Eastern & Midland: €663.7m, two more developed regions — the EU pays 40%. That split is between two public purses; what you contribute yourself is set by each scheme’s grant rate. The Eastern & Midland Regional Assembly (Dublin and the Midlands) is not a Managing Authority: its region sits inside the Southern Assembly’s programme. Each programme has a Monitoring Committee (CPR Arts. 38–40) that approves the selection criteria the Intermediate Bodies apply.
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Intermediate Bodies — Enterprise Ireland · Research Ireland · Higher Education Authority
Delegated responsibility for Priority 1, research and innovation. They publish the calls, assess applications, verify claims and hold the relationship — in both programmes, through the same six Priority 1 schemes: Technology Gateways, KT Boost, the Innovators’ Initiative, ARC Hubs, TU RISE and Smart Regions, plus, since 2026, Innovators’ Initiative II – STEP. Enterprise Ireland runs the enterprise-facing ones, Research Ireland the ARC Hubs, the HEA TU RISE. A call is national; which programme co-funds you depends on where you are.
👉 Your organisation sits at this level
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Beneficiaries — universities, technological universities, research bodies, councils and enterprises
Sign the grant agreement, procure the work under national and EU procurement law, spend first and claim after — and keep the records for five years from 31 December of the year of the last payment. Where the money bought infrastructure or productive investment, the durability obligation runs for five years past the final payment.
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Final Beneficiaries
Researchers and founders using the capacity that gets built, SMEs taking up the technology, and the towns and regions where the investment physically lands. Not a term in the regulation: in CPR language the beneficiary is the body above, which signs and claims; the people here receive what it delivers.
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Audit Chain
Inside the programme: the Intermediate Body and Managing Authority run Art. 74 management verifications — risk-based, on paper and on the spot, finished before the annual accounts go to the Commission → the ERDF Audit Authority audits systems, operations and accounts directly at every level (Art. 77) → the European Commission relies on its annual opinion and can re-perform its work (Art. 83). Alongside, not above: the European Court of Auditors samples Irish operations for the EU budget; OLAF and the EPPO investigate suspected fraud; the C&AG audits the Department and the state-body Intermediate Bodies, and the Local Government Audit Service audits the two Regional Assemblies. Art. 82: documents kept five years from 31 December of the year of the last payment.

Process maps under this programme

Where this came from

Human reviewed2026-09-07Automatically checked2026-09-07Current source statusAutomatic baseline required

Read against the source on 2026-09-07. This is the human-reviewed version.

What that check changed: Checked again on 7 September 2026 against the programmes as amended (Northern & Western re-adopted 16 December 2025, Southern, Eastern & Midland 24 March 2026): €217.1m + €663.7m = €880.8m, of which €395.7m is ERDF — 130.2/217.1 is 60% for a transition region, 265.5/663.7 is 40% for more developed ones (Art. 112(3)(c) and (e)). The Department’s press releases and NWRA’s overview page still quote the €853m / €396m announced at adoption in 2022. Three things an earlier version got wrong, all found by an independent source check: it read the programme’s 60/40 EU share as the share an applicant must find themselves (the national share is Exchequer money; what you contribute is set by the scheme’s grant rate); it placed the C&AG inside the ERDF audit chain (the Regional Assemblies are audited by the Local Government Audit Service, and neither auditor sits between the Audit Authority and the Managing Authorities); and it scoped the six schemes to the southern programme (both programmes run the same six, plus Innovators’ Initiative II – STEP since 2026). Two legal points tightened: Article 74 verifications are risk-based and must be finished before the annual accounts, not before each payment, and the Managing Authority must pay within 80 days of a claim; Article 65 durability applies only to infrastructure and productive investment.