Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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794. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his plans for urgent and substantial financial supports for the inshore fishing sector following recent correspondence from organisations (details supplied) to him to compensate them for their serious financial losses due to the global pandemic crisis. [39817/20]

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. Government has also made available low-cost loans to seafood businesses for working capital and other purposes.

Earlier this year the European Union amended the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Regulation to ensure that Member States’ Operational Programmes could be used to support their seafood sectors from the specific impacts of the pandemic. However, the EU provided no additional funds for this purpose and the measures available through the amendments will end on 31 December 2020. Two options were available to Member States, either a fleet tie-up scheme or a storage aid market support scheme. During discussions with fishing representatives earlier in 2020 it was made clear that storage aid was not wanted by the sector. Instead a temporary fleet tie-up scheme was implemented over three months from June to August 2020 to support the fixed costs of vessel owners who chose to tie-up during periods of market turbulence, with the Pandemic Unemployment Payment complementing such a scheme by supporting the incomes of crew.

Last year the inshore fisheries sector adopted on its first industry-led strategy, the Inshore Fisheries Strategy 2019-2023, which sets out a blueprint for how the sector could develop in the coming years. The Chair of the National Inshore Fisheries Forum has formally written to invite me to meet with the Forum and I look forward to meeting with the Forum in December. The Programme for Government strongly commits to supporting the fisheries and wider seafood sector in achieving its potential, with a commitment to protecting the interests of our fishing sector in EU negotiations with the UK on a Free Trade Agreement.