Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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688. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to outline the status of the work of the European agricultural fund for rural development, the rural development programme and the European maritime and fisheries fund's seafood development operational programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21019/16]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Ireland’s 2014-202 Rural Development Programme (RDP) was formally adopted by the European Commission on 26th May 2015 and contains a suite of extensive measures that address all farming sectors and support community led local development. The Programme is co-funded by the EU’s European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) and the national exchequer. EU support for the RDP via the EAFRD will amount to €2.19 billion over the 7-year Programme lifespan and this EU funding will be supplemented by exchequer funding to bring the total support available under the RDP to €3.9 billion. The various measures being rolled out under the RDP include:

- Knowledge transfer discussion groups for beef, sheep, dairy, equine, poultry and tillage sectors;

- Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for Agricultural Advisors;

- The Targeted Agricultural Modernisation Schemes (TAMS II);

- GLAS Traditional Farm Buildings scheme;

- The Green, Low-Carbon, Agri-Environment Scheme (GLAS);

- The Beef Data and Genomics Programme (BDGP);

- Locally led schemes such as the Burren Conservation scheme;

- The Organic Farming Scheme (OFS);

- The Area of Natural Constraints (ANC) measure;

- European Innovation Partnerships (EIPs);

- A Collaborative Farming measure; and

- LEADER.

Following its adoption in December 2015 by the European Commission, the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Operational Programme was launched in January 2016. The Programme provides €240 million in development funding to our seafood sector for the period up to 2020. The Programme is co-funded with €147.6 million from the EU and €93 million from the Exchequer.

So far under the Programme, 14 schemes have been initiated to provide support for sustainable fishing, sustainable aquaculture, seafood processing, Fisheries Local Action Groups, seafood promotion, Producer Organisations, marine biodiversity protection, data collection, control and enforcement and blue growth. Further schemes will follow and will aim to support fleet decommissioning, energy efficiency and human capital. I have provided a greatly enhanced budget of €23 million to Bord Iascaigh Mhara in 2016 to implement the many schemes for which it is the implementing body.