Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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269. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he will seek agreement from the European Commission to deploy EMFAF and exchequer funding to financially assist inshore and islands fishermen in Ireland, to compensate them for their serious financial losses over recent times, under EU market disruption criteria. [26244/24]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I am very aware of the challenges facing the inshore fishermen at the moment and met with representatives of the inshore fleet in April to discuss these.

The European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund, EMFAF, is the primary source of funding for the Irish seafood sector. It provides a budget of €258 million for the programme period 2021 to 2027.

I can confirm that my Department is progressing an Inshore Fisheries Support scheme under EMFAF. This scheme provides enhanced grant aid rates, between 80% and 100%, to small scale coastal fishers to support onboard and onshore investments. It will also provide funding for inshore fishers to participate in inshore fisheries conservation measures. This scheme has been circulated to the EMFAF Monitoring Committee for adoption, and the inshore groups such as the NIFF, NIFA and IIMRO are members of the Monitoring Committee. Once it has been adopted it will be implemented by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) without delay.

Inshore fishers can also access support from the Fleet Safety Scheme and Seafood Training Scheme (Fisheries), both of which are open for applications at the moment.

The officials are working closely with BIM to identify what additional supports can be put in place within the constraints I have outlined, and I am confident there will be progress on this in the next couple of months.

Funding supports alone are not the solution to the challenges faced by the inshore fleet. I am committed to ensuring that the necessary scientific and technical knowledge, and support services, which underpin sustainable and viable inshore fisheries, will continue to be provided by BIM and the Marine Institute.

My Department and BIM will be engaging with the inshore sector to develop a successor to the Strategy for Inshore Fisheries Sector 2019-2023. This will provide an opportunity to fully consider the challenges facing the inshore fleet and identify measures to mitigate these challenges.