Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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460. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the budget allocated to Bord Bia in each of the years 2011 to 2018, in tabular form. [43446/19]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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461. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the breakdown of the budget of Bord Bia on advertising and promotion in each of the years 2011 to 2018; the amount spent here and in other markets, respectively in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43447/19]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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462. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the breakdown of the various mediums of advertising and promotions, that is, print and digital used by Bord Bia; the amount allocated each year to each advertising platform in each of the years 2011 to 2018; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43448/19]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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463. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the breakdown of Bord Bia budget of the advertising budget allocated to beef and lamb by Bord Bia in each of the years 2011 to 2018, in tabular form. [43449/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 460 to 463, inclusive, together.

In the context of the annual budgetary process, I make provision for a total Grant (formerly Grant-in-Aid) for Bord Bia.  As a State Body with direct fiduciary responsibility, it then disposes of this annual sum according to its own annual Plans and Programmes as approved by its Board in line with its Statement of Strategy.

The annual Grant sum allocated to Bord Bia in respect of the years 2011 to 2018 is set out in the following table.

Bord Bia's work has played a vital role in the successful growth of our food and drink exports, by promoting the safety, quality and sustainability of our food exports. Bord Bia works closely with my Department to prioritise and develop new markets, building on its significant investment in consumer and retail insights, as well as defending and growing our existing markets. Bord Bia has also played a critical role in supporting the food industry in responding to the challenges and uncertainty posed by Brexit.

In the last published Annual Accounts (2017), expenditure under the heading of Marketing and Promotional Expenditure is given as €43 million. However, it should be noted that this is broken down by allocation under the five (5) Pillars of the Bord Bia Statement of Strategy 2019/2021 - Consumer Insight; People, Talent, Infrastructure; Origin Green; Routes to Market; Brand Communications; and Support Services, under which all expenditure and programmes are assigned.

All of the published Bord Bia's Annual Reports and Accounts can be viewed on the Bord Bia website:www.bordbia.ie, where a breakdown of expenditure can be found.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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464. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his attention has been drawn to the fact that Bord Bia has made an application in 2019 to secure EU funding for suckler beef promotion in key EU markets; if it has applied in the past for the same funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43450/19]

Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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EU funding is available on a competitive basis to trade and other qualifying bodies within Member States for the generic promotion of the quality, safety, nutrition or production methods of EU agricultural products.  Its legal foundation is EU Regulation 1144/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council – “Information provision and Promotion Measures of Agricultural Products”

The EU Promotion Policy for Agri-Food Products acts as key for opening up new markets and to diversity trading partners. It aims to help the sector’s professionals to break into or consolidate international markets and to make consumers more aware of the efforts made by European farmers. A total of €201.1 million is available for these programmes in 2020. EU co-financing rates range from 70% to 85% with the balance comprising of industry funding.  

The EU Commission establish strategic priorities (of products and destinations), an annual budget and workplan. There is an annual call for proposals, with a competitive selection procedure by experts selected by CHAFEA (The Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency) - an EU executive agency. 

As part of this process, Bord Bia submitted a 3 year EU Suckler Beef Information & Promotion campaign, with a programme budget of €2.9 million. Target countries were Germany and Italy. This programme application is currently under competitive consideration by the EU Commission (CHAFEA).  The EU Decision is due in Q4 2019.

Other such promotion programmes currently under way by Bord Bia are set out in the following table.

* programme under direct management by Chafea