Auditor General finds repeated failures to utilise Just Transition Fund

The Comptroller and Auditor General found repeated failures to utilise funds provided under the European Union’s Just Transition Fund
The EU JTF in Ireland targets areas within the wider Midlands region affected by the transition away from peat production
As of August 2026, €51m had been paid to programme beneficiaries and €7m in EU funding had been drawn down
The Government needs to draw down a further €25.3m in EU funding by the end of 2026 to avoid automatic decommitment
Two of the nine original actions with budgets of €15m each were removed from the programme last March

The Comptroller and Auditor General has found repeated failures to utilise funds provided under the European Union’s Just Transition Fund due to implementation delays. The EU JTF is designed to assist communities across Europe to meet the challenges of the green transition in an effective and fair manner. In Ireland, it targets certain areas within the wider Midlands region assessed as being most negatively affected by the transition away from peat production and electricity generation from peat. The EU JTF here is co-funded by the Exchequer and the EU, with total funding of up to €169m available.

According to the 2025 C&AG report on public services, underspends have also happened on other JTF spending votes since 2023. The report notes that as of August this year, €51m had been paid to programme beneficiaries, €14m in eligible expenditure including 4pc technical assistance had been reported in payment applications submitted to the European Commission, while €7m in EU funding had been drawn down. The C&AG found that the level of EU funding drawn down to date is well behind projections made by the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly in 2023, which had anticipated that almost €59m would be claimed by the end of 2025. The Government will need to draw down a further €25.3m in EU funding by the end of this year to avoid an automatic decommitment of funding, and achieving this requires an acceleration on the rate of drawdown.

After a review last year, two of the nine original actions, each with a budget of €15m, encountered implementation challenges and were removed from the programme last March. These resulted in the dropping of targets in relation to 10,000 hectares of land to be rehabilitated, as well as the deployment of 60 public electric vehicle chargers. The C&AG also noted that the funding picture for the JTF is complex and diffused, with several vote accounts referencing JTF funding but no comprehensive account of the aggregate programme spend to date or the amount drawn down from the EU is presented. As a result, there is a lack of transparency about the progress of the programme. In response, the Government stated the accounting function under the remit of the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment monitors and records all payment claims submitted to the European Commission and tracks the total funds received.