Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

In relation to the tillage sector, which has had a very difficult year, I have delivered three tranches of funding: €7 million from the EU; €7 million in additional funding this year through the straw incorporation scheme; and €7 million in the budget for next year. If there were ways of drawing down BAR funding for the sector I would do so but we are talking here about a particular weather event rather than a Brexit event.

I have been working to make sure that I could pull down every bit of funding possible. We are by far the largest spender in relation to the BAR fund and if there is any other way of spending more, I am keen to explore that. The Government is working to make sure that all of the Brexit funding at national level gets spent on work in the country. In terms of engaging on the REPowerEU scheme, there is a mechanism to make sure we can avail of that funding going forward. The deadline for expenditure within the BAR is the end of this year but we will try to make sure that it continues to be available to the country in another format as we go forward.

See this speech in context