Errors in the spending of EU funds increased significantly across member states in 2022, according to the European Court of Auditors' annual report.
In 2021, Ireland paid in €3.4 billion and received €2.7 billion, meaning a net contribution of €0.7 billion. However, €196 billion, mostly in cohesion spending from the EU budget, was affected by a significant increase in the level of error to 4.2%, compared to 3% in 2021. Auditors identified 14 cases of suspected fraud which were reported to the European Anti-Fraud Office , which has already opened two investigations.
"Our findings show that the risk has to be better managed, as we continue to detect errors through our work that led to a significant increase in spending affected by error." "If you look at the whole picture, there is an awful lot of [Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience Facility] money to be drawn down," said Mr Murphy.