Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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173. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of the ex ante assessment for the use of financial instruments in the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund operational programme; the timeframe for completion; if the evaluation will be published; the number of the seven ex ante assessment steps which have been completed to date from the financial instruments in question; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18484/18]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The ex-ante assessment for the use of financial instruments within Ireland’s European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Operational Programmes has been completed and is available on the Department’s website at the following link:

The report involved a detailed evaluation of access to finance for enterprises in the agriculture and seafood sectors in Ireland and examined all 7 required steps of an ex ante assessment as outlined in Article 37 (2) of EU Regulation 1303/2013.

The report was presented to the Rural Development Programme Monitoring Committee in September 2017. Following this, a written public consultation on the Ex-Ante Assessment was held to hear the views of stakeholders on the proposed Financial Instrument.

My Department is currently assessing the feedback from the RDP Monitoring Committee and the public consultation exercise and in light of amendments to the implementation of Financial Instruments in the EAFRD Regulation as provided under EU Regulation 2017/2393, before any consideration of whether a Financial Instrument should be introduced here.