Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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480. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the full-year cost of all aquaculture sector supports in 2024 and 2025, in tabular form; and the breakdown, per scheme. [41032/24]

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Funding for aquaculture sector supports is provided under the Seafood Development Programme (SDP). The SDP is co-funded by the Irish Government and the EU Commission under the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) 2021-2027.

Aquaculture operators may access support under a number of scheme, such as the Seafood Training Scheme, the Sustainable Aquaculture Scheme, and the Seafood Capacity Building Scheme, which are all administered by Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM). These schemes are currently open for applications, and further details are available on www.bim.ie.

Budget Allocation 2024

The 2024 spend to date and allocation for the three schemes mentioned above are set out in the table below.

It should be noted that the figures below reflect the fact that these schemes opened to applications in recent months, and particularly in the case of the Sustainable Aquaculture Scheme, which is a capital investment scheme, it is anticipated that most applicants approved for funding in 2024 will be drawing down their grant aid in 2025.

It should further be noted that the level of demand for all open schemes for industry is being kept under close review by BIM, and there may be some adjustment of budget allocation to individual schemes in light of demand in order to ensure that the overall available budget is utilised to the maximum degree possible.

Budget Allocation 2025

At present it is not possible to provide a breakdown of the budget allocation for individual schemes in 2025.

The overall budget allocation to BIM in 2025 to support implementation of measures funded under the SDP is approximately €34.16 million. This budget allocation will support not only the industry schemes, but a range of measures undertaken by BIM as part of its work programme. This allocation for 2025 reflects an increase in budget, in light of the anticipated demand across all industry schemes administered by BIM into 2025, including those that support the aquaculture sector. However the precise allocation for each individual scheme for 2025 cannot be finalised until the Revised Estimates Volume (REV) is published.