Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

659. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount of European Union Brexit funding that has been made available to the fishing sector, including a breakdown of all the relevant schemes; and his plans to provide further funding from EU Brexit funding to the sector. [3120/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In the wake of the Trade and Co-Operation Agreement, I established the Seafood Task Force to make recommendations on how best to support the seafood sector and coastal communities to adjust to the post-Brexit environment. Its deliberations resulted in 16 recommendations outlining supports worth €423 million. The majority of these recommendations were for supports for fishers, with additional supports proposed for other parts of the seafood supply chain. Based on these recommendations, to date, I have announced €265 million worth of supports and investment programmes. All of the relevant schemes are presented in tabular form below.

In respect of plans for providing further funding, leveraging the Brexit Adjustment Reserve, the remaining recommendations of the Task Force are currently being assessed. In making its recommendations, the Task Force acknowledged that each would have to be examined from the perspective of available funding, eligibility under the EU Brexit Adjustment Reserve Regulation, State Aid rules, and the Public Spending Code and given the volume could only be introduced on a phased and prioritised basis. The precise amount of funding for schemes based on these remaining recommendations will be dependent on the outcome of these processes and agreement at EU level.

It is also worth noting, that in making its recommendations, the Task Force suggested longer term supports and investments beyond the lifetime of the Brexit Adjustment Reserve, which would utilise funding from the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF). In December 2022, I was pleased to announce that the EU Commission had adopted my Department’s EMFAF Seafood Development Programme which will facilitate the implementation of these longer term recommendations. The Programme is worth €258 million and is co-funded by the EU and Irish Government.