Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Article 66 of the regulation allows the managing authority of the programme a partial derogation from the regulatory requirements, in that a 50% advance may be paid after approval of the PO's PMP. This derogation is not included in the PO scheme, which was approved at the programme's outset by the monitoring committee of stakeholders. The scheme states that only once the marketing plan has been approved by the Department as the competent authority and the annual report for the year concerned is also approved will it be eligible for support under the scheme.

The challenges in providing a 50% advance have to do with how the costs would not be known because of the lack of a previous history. We are developing a new scheme, though. The Deputy has raised an issue and I will have it assessed further in that context.

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