Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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580. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the EU funds his Department accesses; the plans he is putting in place to access these funds to a greater degree in view of Brexit; if he will outline initiatives he is pursuing to establish access to new funds in view of the challenge of Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8799/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The main EU funds that are available to the agri-food and fisheries sectors include the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (finances direct payments to farmers and certain market support measures), the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (finances support for the achievement of economic, social and environmental objectives through measures co-funded by Member States), and the European Maritime Fisheries Fund (finances the implementation of the EU's maritime and fisheries policies through measures co-funded by Member States). The latter two funds are deployed in Ireland through the Rural Development Programme and the Seafood Development Programme.

I have already announced increased spending under the Rural Development Programme (RDP) and Seafood Development Programme (SDP) as part of the suite of measures in Budget 2017 designed to financially underpin my Department's Brexit mitigation efforts. RDP expenditure will increase to €601 million in 2017 from €494 million in 2016, while investment under the SDP will increase by €43 million in 2017.   

In addition, I recently launched the new low-cost loan fund of €150 million for the agri-food sector which was announced in Budget 2017, and this included €11m in funding from the EAGF. 

My Department will continue to maximise its drawdown from available EU funds   as the Brexit negotiating process unfolds.