Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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391. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the way in which funds will be used that the European Commission is returning to member states from unused crisis reserve funds; and the amount Ireland will receive. [52784/17]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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In the context of the annual budgetary procedure of the European Union, the financial discipline mechanism involves a monetary deduction from some direct payments thereby creating a financial Crisis Reserve for the European Union. The crisis reserve is intended to provide additional support for the agriculture sector in the case of major crises affecting agricultural production or distribution. In the event that the Crisis Reserve is not activated in the financial year, or it is not fully utilised, the balance not used is refunded to farmers in the subsequent financial year.

As outlined in Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/2197 of 27th of November 2017, the crisis reserve fund was not required in the 2017 financial year. As a result of this, a total amount of €13,229,176 is available for reimbursement to Ireland. In accordance with the regulations, this amount must be reimbursed to eligible applicants who were subject to a financial discipline reduction in the previous financial year.