Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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253. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will address the issue of oyster fishermen and the new schemes (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35678/20]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Throughout the Covid-19 Pandemic, Government has made available financial and other supports for employees and businesses negatively impacted by the Pandemic. Both the Pandemic Unemployment Payment and Wage Subsidy Scheme have supported the incomes of employees and the self-employed in our seafood sector and I am aware that many availed of these Government payments in the first half of 2020. Government has also made available low-cost loans to seafood businesses for working capital and other purposes.

My Department's €240 million European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Programme 2014-2020 is the principal source of public funding for the sustainable development of our fisheries, aquaculture and seafood processing sectors. The Programme is delivered through a range of support schemes providing supports for capital investment, innovation, advisory services, marketing, training, stock conservation and protection of marine biodiversity. These support schemes have continued throughout the Covid-19 Pandemic and take-up of grants has remained strong. The Programme is now nearing its end, with funds already mostly committed through grant offers and I anticipate that the Programme will finish in 2021. My Department is working to develop a new Seafood Development Programme for the 2021-27 period.

In 2020, the European Union amended the EMFF Regulation (508/2014) to ensure that Member States’ EMFF Programmes could be best used to support their seafood sectors with the specific impacts of the Pandemic. The additional measures available through these amendments will end on 31 December 2020. The Deputy should note that no additional funds were made available by the European union for these Covid-specific measures and any aid made available by Government to fisheries or aquaculture has involved reallocating scarce funds from other support schemes for the sector.

For the fisheries sector, the amendments to the EMFF Regulation facilitated Member States that chose to implement either a fleet tie-up scheme or a storage aid market support scheme and only those two measures. Representatives of the fisheries sector did not favour a Storage Aid Scheme and instead called for a fleet tie-up scheme. The previous Minister implemented a Covid-19 Temporary Fleet Tie-up Scheme over the months June to August 2020 which was available to holders of a sea-fishing boat licence in certain segments of the Irish sea-fishing fleet.

Last month, I announced a Covid 19 Aquaculture Support Scheme to compensate oyster and rope mussel aquaculture licence holders by supporting their costs of production for product that they were unable to sell over the period February to June 2020. For oyster aquaculture licence holders, payments will range from €6,800 to €16,300 per business depending on their previous production levels and for rope mussel aquaculture licence holders who have considerably lower costs of production, payments will range from €1,300 to €9,000 per business. A call for applications by BIM is imminent.