Mr. Michael Keatinge:

I thank the Chairman and members of the sub-committee for this opportunity to update it on the progress made to date in establishing a functioning network of fisheries local action groups, FLAGs.

FLAGs are provided for under priority Axis 4 of the European Fisheries Fund. They are community-led, local-development initiatives that focus on the sustainable development of fisheries areas. Funding is through the European Fisheries Fund and the national development plan. Following decisions made by FLAG boards, financial assistance, complementary to other Community instruments, is provided for the sustainable development and improvement of the quality of life in fisheries areas eligible as part of an overall strategy which seeks to support the implementation of the objectives of the Common Fisheries Policy, in particular taking account of its socio-economic effects.

BIM, as the State agency with primary responsibility for the implementation of the European Fisheries Fund and with a long history of working directly with the seafood sector as well as the wider fisheries community, is tasked by its parent Department, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, with implementing the European Fisheries Fund, including priority Axis 4, the sustainable development of fisheries areas.

The FLAGs are established pursuant to Article 43 of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1198/2006 which states:

A fisheries area selected for assistance shall be limited in size and, as a general rule, shall be smaller than NUTS, nomenclature of territorial units for statistics, level 3. However, the area should be sufficiently coherent from a geographical, economic and social point of view. Assistance should target, as a priority, areas with (a) low population density, or (b) fishing in decline, or (c) small fisheries communities.

Following discussions at the operational programme monitoring committee, and subsequently with the European Commission services and our managing authority, the Department, it was agreed Axis 4 would operate throughout the Irish coast with the exception of towns and cities with a population in excess of 15,000. It was further decided that this approach would be best delivered by adopting a regional approach to the establishment of FLAGs. On that basis, a total of six FLAGs were identified.

I have enclosed maps of the FLAG networks in the UK and in France in my written submission. I could have selected others but these, by way of example, illustrate my points on our network. In England and Wales, north Cornwall and Devon have a FLAG designation but there is vast gap in designations along the southern coast all the way to Hastings, south of London, then further gaps from there along the east, all the way to Norfolk and then up to Yorkshire. The UK has stipulated that the FLAGs will be small. The downside of that approach, however, is that vast swathes of the coastline are left out. In France, with a total of 11 FLAGs, the authorities there concentrated on small specific areas, covering only small fractions of the entire coastline. Scotland, in contrast, might be said to have adopted a model closer to the Irish one. It has attempted to create FLAGs at a NUTS level 3 that incorporate the entire coastline.

During 2013, all six FLAG in Ireland were established. In addition, it was agreed that in each region the FLAGs could, as part of their development strategy, identify several sub‐priority areas, generally not more than two, wherein up to 70% of its operational budget could be concentrated. In the event that sub-priority areas are identified, the development strategy for these areas could form an integral part of the overall strategy of a FLAG. The balance of the operational budget would be available to projects from the remainder of the region covered by the FLAG.

The development strategies were produced in the past 12 months and cover each of the regions. I will make copies available to the sub-committee but other copies can be downloaded from the BIM website. While BIM, the implementing body, has facilitated their formation, the FLAGs in every case consist of an independent board made up of public and private partners from various local, relevant, socio-economic sectors, selected according to the principle of proportionality. BIM will examine a project to ensure it is complaint with regulations but it never addresses whether the project should be funded. BIM also completes all claims of the managing authority back to the European Commission, as well as undertaking all audit visits by the Commission. BIM’s role is one of assistance rather than one of direction.

By way of oversight and horizontal integration, a national implementation body has been established, comprising representatives of each of the FLAGs and representatives of the major public service bodies. The body meets twice annually to provide guidance to the operation of the FLAGs, its most recent meeting being in November 2013. By doing this at a national level, we have attracted representatives from large national bodies such as Fáilte Ireland which might not be able to send representatives to local meetings. The body has provided a useful forum for the FLAGs from all corners of the country to discuss common issues.

During 2013, all six FLAGs developed and published their integrated local development strategies, based on a bottom-up approach in agreement with the managing authority. These comprehensive documents are available on the BIM website. A total of 61 projects were considered by the FLAGs, of which 45 were approved for funding. To date, claims have been received from 36 applicants representing a total investment of €172,631 with €91,743 in grant aid, 50:50 between the State and the EU. A further six projects provided funding of some €90,000 towards the cost of producing integrated local development strategies. These were community led not BIM led. It was up to the communities as to how they prioritised their strategies.

Among the services I have mentioned, we provide a local co-ordinator and there is one staff member from BIM in each of the six regions, currently from the fisheries side. Next year we hope to include aquaculture, but at the moment it is fisheries. There is one person from BIM available to assist, and the board bears the cost of that person. We also provide administrative services to the FLAGs, including administering the management of project claims and so on. Similarly, the board covers the cost of that administrative assistance.