Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. We have received proposals from different representative organisations and have been very keen to encourage people to bring proposals to us in recent years. Each proposal we have received has been assessed, and we have worked to make such proposals eligible for the BAR scheme in any way we can. It has been my objective to do everything possible to draw down BAR funding for the agriculture and fisheries sectors. The fisheries sector was significantly impacted by Brexit in that we had a direct loss to quota at the outset. I have now implemented more than 12 schemes that the task force recommended to me. I have implemented each and every one of them. However, the fisheries sector clearly met the criteria, which was helpful. It is more tricky on the agricultural side because exports have increased since Brexit. In those years, prices have held up strongly, and, in fact, improved over much of that time, although it will be more challenging this year given the market conditions.

I am very much conscious of what the future challenges might be. That is a matter which I will continue to monitor closely. In each and every way we could find to draw down BAR funding, we did so.

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