Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Question 97: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food when he will introduce EU Regulation 744/2008 emergency aid for the Irish fishing industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43885/08]

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 110: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the status of his request for an emergency aid package from the EU for the fisheries sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44035/08]

Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 133: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the position regarding his submission to the EU in August 2008 seeing €35 million in additional EU money for emergency aid for the fishing industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43939/08]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 97, 110 and 133 together.

I have been actively pursuing this important matter at both Council and European Commission level. The Irish submission was the subject of a lengthy bilateral meeting at official level with the Commission on 30 September. At that meeting it was made clear that the submission cannot be implemented unless the Commission secures and allocates the necessary funding to Ireland. I also pressed the matter at the September Council and looked for early proposals from the Commission. The stated position of the Commission is for Member States to re-engineer their Fisheries Operational Programmes to give priorities to the new measures catered for in the emergency package. This is not an option for Ireland as we have already committed €32m of our total EFF allocation to the current decommissioning scheme which does not allow for any further flexibility with the remaining measures proposed. We will continue to push Ireland's case over the coming period with a view to the Commission bringing forward firm proposals to provide additional funds that will enable the full implementation of our proposals.