Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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495. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent to which adequate protective measures are available to assist families dependent on the fishing industry, with particular reference to the situation post Brexit; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42237/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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There are a number of opportunities and threats to our seafood sector in the coming years.  Clearly, the potential impacts of a hard Brexit remain a significant concern and my Department and its agencies, and indeed other State bodies such as Enterprise Ireland and Údarás na Gaeltachta, have been working closely with stakeholders in planning for all scenarios.  There are also very many reasons to be positive about the future of our seafood sector.  Demand on international markets is such that there are valuable business opportunities for quality Irish seafood.  My Department and its agencies are pursuing a number of strategies to assist our seafood enterprises in realising those opportunities.  

My Department's €240 million European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) Operational Programme is the vehicle for financial supports to the seafood sector for the period 2014 to 2020.  The Programme delivers a wide range of supports for aquaculture, fisheries and seafood processing through a suite of 18 schemes.  The Programme is co-funded by the Government of Ireland and the European Union. Through the EMFF Programme, I am continuing to support the seafood sector through a broad range of advisory and financial supports.  Notwithstanding the threats associated with Brexit, the catching sector continues to invest strongly in 2019 with EMFF supports in equipment on-board to add value to catch, improve quality, enhance safety and hygiene and embrace energy efficiency.  

More broadly, the seven EMFF Fisheries Local Action Groups are providing EMFF support to projects within coastal communities around Ireland.  The FLAG Scheme aims to promote innovative approaches in coastal communities to create growth and jobs in those areas, in particular by adding value to fishery and aquaculture products and diversifying the local economy towards new economic activities.  The EMFF Programme also provides supports for capital investment to support the landing obligation, for innovation in fisheries technology and methods, for specialist training for the fishing fleet, and in science to support the sustainable exploitation of our fish stocks. 

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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496. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the extent to which fish processing here can rely on fish supplies post Brexit; the steps to address such issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42238/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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The Government published a Contingency Action Plan on 19 December last year, setting out its approach to dealing with a no-deal Brexit.  In light of ongoing uncertainty, preparatory work has continued to take account of all possible outcomes. 

The Government has already introduced a range of measures to deal with the short-term impacts of Brexit.  In terms of dealing with the competitiveness issue, my Department introduced a €150 million low-cost loan scheme and increased funding under the Rural Development and Seafood Development Programmes in the 2017 Budget.  In Budget 2018, I, along with my colleague, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, introduced a new €300 million “Brexit Loan Scheme” to provide affordable, flexible financing to Irish businesses that are either currently impacted by Brexit or who will be in the future – at least 40% of which will be available to agri-food and seafood businesses.

Budget 2020 provides for a “No-Deal” contingency fund to support our most vulnerable sectors.  €110 million will be made available in the first tranche, which includes €14 million for support for the fishing fleet as well as support for food companies wishing to re-orient production and marketing towards non-UK markets (€5 million) and to provide necessary support to other sectors to improve competitiveness (€6 million). 

Our enterprise agencies are continuing to work with seafood companies to help them to deal with Brexit through making them more competitive, diversifying market exposure, and up-skilling teams.  Brexit Information Seminars were held recently in Dublin, Wexford and Cork to help agri-food, including  seafood, businesses to prepare for Brexit.   

My priority has been, and remains, to maintain existing levels of access to waters and resources.  The European Commission has put in place a legal framework to allow the authorisation of EU and UK vessels to continue to fish in each other's waters until 31 December 2019, if agreement is reached between the UK and the EU on such access.  The Commission has put forward a proposal to extend this temporary framework to 31 December 2020, if a Withdrawal Agreement is not in place.  The Regulation does not provide a commitment of ongoing reciprocal access – it simply creates the necessary legal framework to allow for the possibility of such access.  However, in the worst case scenario of a disorderly departure, we can expect that those reciprocal arrangements will be impacted, at least in the very short term.

Both my officials and I have had intensive discussions with the European Commission, other relevant Member States and stakeholders regarding the potential negative impact of a disorderly or no-deal Brexit on the Irish fishing industry and the wider seafood sector as whole.  These discussions intensified in recent months and were based on preparatory work already done.  I have met with the Irish Fishing Industry regularly since the 23rd June 2016, most recently on the 5th September. 

A disorderly departure, that included a loss of access to UK waters, would have very serious consequences for our seafood industry.  I am satisfied that, in cooperation with our stakeholders and EU partners, we are doing all that we can to plan to mitigate the potential impacts.