Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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911. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the breakdown of European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, EMFF, funding for Ireland per year during the current programme since 2014; the amount of unspent moneys returned to the EMFF in each year; the percentage that goes solely to the fishing sector on an annual basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24188/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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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 19 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 fishing sector through a broad range of supports.

The Annual EMFF allocation provided to Ireland is detailed in the Finance Plan incorporated in the EMFF Programme document and for convenience is reproduced below (Table 1). These funds are paid to Ireland only following expenditure by Ireland and submission by Ireland to the Commission of recoupment claims. Under the so-called n+3 rule, annual allocations to a Member State would be decommitted if the Member State does not submit sufficient claims to the Commission. Expenditure on Ireland's Programme to date has been very strong, so unlike many Member States Ireland has lost no funds in this way.

Separately, the EMFF Regulation provides for annual pre-payment by the Commission of certain amounts to Member States to assist them with cash flow in funding projects prior to recoupment from the Commission. These pre-payments are part of the overall allocation to the Member State. As part of the annual clearance of accounts process, if recoupment claims submitted by a Member State for the accounting year concerned are not sufficient to cover both these pre-payments and the annual allocation, then the Commission recovers the amount of pre-financing not covered, through offsets against claims due. Such recoveries are financial balancing exercises and are not a loss to the Member State, and do not affect the overall allocation to the Member State. To date, approximately €6.5 million in pre-payments have been recovered by the Commission.

Supports to the fishing sector are primarily provided through measures implemented under Union Priority 1 – Sustainable Development of Fisheries, which has a total allocation under the Programme of €55.59 million. Table 2 below provides information on annual spend under the Programme and to the fishing sector under UP1.

Table 1. Total EMFF contribution planned for each year (€)

Table 2. EMFF Programme Spend 2014-2019.