Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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961. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of the implementation of A Programme for a Partnership Government as it applies to his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24569/18]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The Government will shortly be publishing the second annual progress report on the Programme for Partnership Programme. Some of my Department's highlights for year two are:

Food Wise 2025: Total agri-food exports in 2017 were €13.6bn, an increase of 11% over 2016. Among the achievements in market access included the opening of the Chinese market for beef and that Irish beef sold in the US can now carry the USDA quality mark.

Sustainability: Under the Rural Development Programme, the GLAS (some 50,000 farmers participating), BDGP (some 25,000 farmers participating) and TAMS programmes have all continued to make real contributions to the common goal of Irish sustainability. To date, 337 food and drink companies are verified members of Origin Green.

Brexit: Preparations, including close engagement with stakeholders, are continuing and I provided €50million in supports in Budget 2018. I have also been engaged in an intensified round of bilateral meetings with other Member States.

Access to finance: Following the successful €145 million 'Agriculture Cashflow Loan Scheme' in 2017, I and my colleagues launched a new €300 million 'Brexit Loan Scheme' for Brexit-impacted SMEs and mid-caps. My Department’s funding ensures that at least 40% of the fund will be available to food businesses.

Payments:Advance payments of €704 million issued to over 111,000 applicants on the earliest date permissible under EU regulations (16 October), with balancing payments commenced again on the earliest possible date, bringing the total paid to €1.106 billion to 120,700 (98% of all eligible applications). The application process for the 2018 Basic Payment Scheme opened on the 7 February 2018, which is the earliest the application process has opened and is over a month ahead of the opening of the 2017 application process. This is to provide additional time for farmers and their agents to submit their application online as, under EU regulations, all applications must be submitted online in 2018.

New CAP: Following on from the European Commission’s public consultation on CAP in early 2017, and the CAP Communication on 29 November 2017, my Department commenced its own public consultation on CAP post 2020 with six public meetings, which Minister of State Doyle and I hosted by during February 2018. The public meetings were held regionally throughout the country and were well attended. The submissions are now available on my Department’s website. The Commission published its proposals on 1 June.

Trade: In the past year, I led successful trade missions to the USA & Mexico, to Japan & South Korea, Turkey, the USA & Canada and China & Japan. I travelled to the UK as part of the annual series of Irish Government engagements to mark St Patrick’s Day, especially significant in the context of Brexit.

Forestry: Increases in afforestation grant and premium rates have been introduced as part of the Forestry Programmesmidterm review. A series of promotion activities have been undertaken to highlight forestry as a land use option for farmers.

National Farm Animal Health Strategy: Ilaunched The National Farmed Animal Health Strategy 2017-22 in July 2017. The Strategy sets out a comprehensive set of actions for all stakeholders in the agri-food industry to work in partnership to achieve optimal animal health in Ireland.

Seafood:Seafood exports to 72 countries increased by 16% in 2017 to €645 million. Some €28 million was invested in Ireland’s seafood sector through a suite of 16 schemes under the EMFF Operational Programme.