Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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258. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to provide an update on the case of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51630/23]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 258 and 260 together.

The Brexit Pelagic Fisheries Support Scheme, funded under the Brexit Adjustment Reserve (BAR), will compensate owners of Refrigerated Sea Water (RSW) pelagic vessels and polyvalent Tier 1 and Tier 2 vessels that have suffered losses of mackerel quota over the period 2021-2023 as a result of the quota transfers to the EU under Brexit. The support is designed to stabilise cashflow and assist vessel owners to re-structure their operations in light of the loss of earnings associated with the reduction of available quota under the TCA. The scheme is intended to benefit 23 RSW vessels and the 27 polyvalent Tier 1 and Tier 2 vessels.

As with all schemes implemented under the BAR, the scheme was submitted to the Commission for a State Aid decision. The Commission sought that where any applicant under this scheme had received payment under the Temporary Fleet Tie-Up Scheme, this payment would be deducted from the aid provided under this scheme. The concern of the Commission related to vessel owners potentially receiving aid under two different schemes in respect of the same loss i.e. they would receive double compensation.

In an effort to mitigate the impact of this on beneficiaries under this scheme my Department engaged with the Commission and sought that only payments made under the Temporary Fleet Tie-Up Scheme during the pelagic fishing season would be deducted. This was on the basis that the risk of double compensation only arose where vessels received tie-up payments during the season in which they could fish mackerel. In the text put forward by my Department the pelagic fishing season was defined, on the advice of Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), as January to March and November to December. The Commission accepted this, and as such this represented a compromise on their part.

Subsequently I have been made aware that some Tier 1 and Tier 2 vessels were not authorised to fish mackerel in the month of December, and that a number of these vessels had received payment under the Temporary Fleet Tie-Up Scheme in the month of December 2021. As a result, these vessels stood to lose some of the aid available under the Pelagic Fisheries Support Scheme, even though there was no risk of double compensation arising, as they had been unable to fish mackerel in December.

As I announced today, my Department has been successful in clarifying with the EU Commission that as there was no authorisation to fish mackerel in the month of December, payments to Tier 1 and Tier 2 vessels under the Temporary Fleet Tie-Up Scheme in that month do not have to be deducted from any aid being paid to them under the Pelagic Fisheries Support Scheme. I appreciate the assistance of the Commission in resolving this matter quickly, which will now allow the maximum aid possible under the scheme to be accessed by eligible vessels.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I do not intend to publish the Brexit Pelagic Fisheries Support Scheme application submitted by Ireland to the EU Commission. Schemes submitted to the Commission for a State Aid decision are submitted in draft form, and are subject to a process involving consultation with a number of Directorates within the Commission. It is the norm that in the course of this consultation queries are raised by the Commission, and amendments are made to the schemes in light of these queries.

Once a positive State Aid decision is formally notified by the Commission, my Department checks that the final draft of the scheme document is fully aligned with the State Aid decision, and it is then that the final scheme document is provided to Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM), who is requested to implement same. The final scheme document is published and available on bim.ie/fisheries/funding/brexit-pelagic-fisheries-support-scheme/.