Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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I thank BIM for its presentation. I must agree with previous speakers on the value of the FLAGs plan, for which I understand BIM is the implementing authority. I would like to tease out the extent to which it was involved in the application process for funding under Axis 4 of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, EMFF, to see whether it had any input in how much could have been availed of by the State. As mentioned in the presentation, funding was available under Axis 4 from 2007 to 2013. The FLAGs formed part of it, yet they were only in place in Ireland for the past three years. That means that nothing was done here between 2007 and 2012. I am not saying, however, that was Mr. Keatinge's fault. Obviously, there is a wider policy problem in the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in targeting available EU funding. As Mr. Keatinge is probably aware, the committee was informed by the Commission that in the period 2007 to 2013 some 8,000 jobs were created across the European Union with Axis 4 funding. In Ireland there were 20 jobs created. That is a sad indictment of our targeting of these funds in protecting and saving coastal communities.

I come from Killybegs which, as Mr. Keatinge will be aware, has been Ireland's largest fishing port, in volume and value, for a number of years. However, I know more ex-fishermen than fishermen. That represents the outworking of Ireland's fisheries policy in the past 20 or 30 years. We saw the late former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds get off an aeroplane and talk about having €8 billion in his back pocket. Much has always been made of how we availed of funding from the European Union. In this regard, however, the record is appalling. That is the historical context. I do not know what BIM's role in accessing this funding or devising the policy was - perhaps Mr. Keatinge might fill us in - but in terms of who should be getting the finger out and working on this issue, perhaps we are talking to the wrong people.

In looking at what has been proposed, Mr. Keatinge has outlined a proposed budget of €12 million for the period 2015 to 2020. In preparation for this meeting I looked through a guidance document from the European Commission on community-led local development involving so-called "local actors", particularly FLAGs. It states a budget of €3 million per local development unit per is the minimum amount that should be considered. Given that there are seven FLAGs, one is looking at a figure of €1.8 million for each of them, which means that we are not coming anywhere near the figure mentioned by the Commission and even then the impact might be minimal. I apologise if I am talking to the wrong people about the policy, but perhaps Mr. Keatinge might enlighten us in that regard.

I must agree with previous speakers. This is throwing peanuts at a mountain to try to deal with a problem. Unfortunately, I do not see how we can achieve any of what is intended under Axis 4, that is, to help those who have been pushed out of fishing because of quota restrictions by developing alternative industries and retraining. Unfortunately, at €15,000 per project, there is no way any of this will be achieved.