Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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965. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total amount of money drawn down from the European Fisheries Fund programme in the period 2008 to 2015 by his Department in the areas of marketing, aquaculture, processing and fishing, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9864/16]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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967. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the total grant recipients, total grant amounts, approval dates, total amount drawn and not drawn down, percentage of grant aid, total project costs under the European Fisheries Fund programme in 2015; the date whereby a recipient notified Bord Iascaigh Mhara that funding would not be drawn down; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9866/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 965 and 967 together.

The information requested by the Deputy is not readily available at this time in the format requested. My Department will compile the data and forward it to the Deputy as soon as possible.

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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966. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the amount of funds that were unused at the end of the European Fisheries Fund programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9865/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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My Department’s Operational Programme under the European Fisheries Fund provided funding for the development of the seafood sector over the period 2008 to 2015. The Programme was funded through an EU allocation of approximately €42 million and €24 million in Exchequer funding, bringing total funds to approximately €66 million. The Programme ended in December 2015 and funding for the seafood sector is now provided through my Department’s new €240 million EMFF Seafood Development Operational Programme. The accounts for the EFF Programme are not yet finalised and a closure process needs to be completed between my Department and the EU before a final figure is available, so I cannot provide the Deputy with a final figure on how much in EU or Exchequer funds were invested and how much was unused at the end of the Programme. Present estimates from my Department suggest that in the region of €0.9 million in EU funds were unused, giving a drawdown rate of 98%. This would be a very successful outcome for any EU funding programme and will compare very favourably with other Member States. It is worth noting that all of the funds available were awarded to investment projects, but inevitably some do not proceed, while others do not avail of the full amount of funds offered to them. When this happens in the final year of the Programme there is no scope to re-allocate funds to other projects.