National Strategic Reference Framework
Ireland's National Strategy for using European Union Structural Funds (NSRF 2007-2013) sets out the direction for
investment by the European Social Fund and European Regional Development Fund until 2013.
The economic progress which Ireland has achieved in recent years means that the volume of EU Regional
Policy funding available to Ireland is significantly less, both in absolute and in relative terms, than in
the 2000-2006 round. EU budget transfers under the Regional Competitiveness and Employement Objective will
total €750 million over the next seven years. To put this in context, the expenditure programmed in the
National Developement Plan (NDP) 2007-2013 for the same period is €184 billion.