I thank the Chairman and the committee.
The item under discussion is the seafood development operational programme for 2007-2013 and members have been circulated with a presentation regarding that programme. The seafood development operational process commenced in 2006 in the sense that the Structural Fund for fisheries was the last such fund to be agreed at European level. It was at least a year behind the other Structural Funds, largely due to a debate in the Council over what could or could not be funded in the fisheries area under the new Structural Fund round. At EU level, therefore, the Structural Fund was very late in being agreed.
The debate was approaching conclusion during 2006 when the then Ministers established the seafood strategy review group, the chairman of which in Ireland was Dr. Noel Cawley. Its objective was to draw up an integrated strategy in conjunction with the industry which would apply over the period 2007-2013 and pull together all the appropriate development strands based on analysis of the situation applicable in 2006. Following from that, under the European fisheries fund rules agreed in late 2006, Ireland was required to draw up and present a national strategic plan for the period 2007-2013. In line with this plan, a seafood development operational programme was to be drawn up. That is the development sequence that has been followed. The operational programme flows from the Cawley seafood development strategy and from the national strategic plan.
The Cawley group was established in June 2006. It consulted widely with the industry throughout the second half of 2006 with all the stakeholders and various interested parties and drew up its report at the end of that year. That report was broadly reflected in the national development plan in January-February 2007. It was publicly launched on 28 January 2007. That effectively provided the blueprint for the development of the industry over the Structural Fund period.
In February 2007, following the publication of the Cawley report and its reflection in the national development plan, the initial drafting of the national strategic plan was carried out and was sent, as required, to the Commission in March 2007. Discussions on that national strategic plan were held with the Commission from March to October 2007 with various revisions and comments from the Commission.
The Government set up a group to implement the Cawley seafood development strategy, the so-called seafood strategy implementation group, a broad based group of all stakeholders and interested parties across the industry. The national strategic plan was also discussed with and eventually signed off by that group. The plan was submitted to the Commission in November 2007 following final sign-off by the seafood strategy implementation group.
The operational programme flowed from the national strategic plan. In March 2007, an initial draft of the seafood development operational programme was drawn up and from April to June revisions were carried out following discussions with the European Commission, DG Fish, on that initial draft of the operational programme.
I realise the process involved is rather lengthy to describe. Under the strategic environmental assessment regulation, the member state is required under EU law to have such a draft operational programme assessed by an independent consultant who then carries out, after public consultation, a strategic environmental assessment independently of the draft operational programme. That strategic environmental assessment of the draft operational programme is then given to the European Commission by the consultant. The programme is then assessed by the Commission which takes into account the strategic environmental assessment. That assessment process commenced in July 2007 and in September the draft was submitted to the Commission for comments. A meeting was held about the operational programme. In December-January following, there was public consultation on the strategic environmental assessment.
In March 2008, following the completion of that assessment, the operational programme was officially submitted to the Commission. In June, a revised operational programme was submitted.
I will discuss the period between March and June of this year. Once the operational programme was submitted with the strategic environmental assessment on 6 March, the Commission absorbed the operational programme and there was a meeting held with it on 24 April. The proposal comprised the total funding under the European fisheries fund, EFF. The operational programme only deals with the co-funded moneys that will be available to the industry. It is only dealing with the areas where there is co-funding from Europe. It does not deal with areas where there will be national measures. The total EFF funding agreed under the criteria for the allocation of Structural Funds in the Finance Council, ECOFIN, and at summits amounted to €42.26 million. Under the fisheries fund, that is divided across a variety of axes as they are called.
Axis one deals with fleet restructuring, axis two deals with aquaculture development, axis three deals with areas of marine environment protection, including reducing discards, by-catches, fuel efficient practices and so on, and axis four deals with bottom up projects similar to the Leader programme. Of the €42 million that was split, some €32 million was allocated in axis one for the whitefish fleet decommissioning scheme. A sum of €3.7 million was allocated for axis two for aquaculture development. Some €6 million was provided for axis three dealing with marine environment and inshore. These are only the co-funded measures using up the allocated European fisheries fund moneys, not the full suite of measures with which I will deal later. These are only a part of the picture. That is what was submitted to the Commission.
In April, the meeting was held with the Commission to discuss the operational programme following the strategic and environmental assessment. At that meeting, the Directorate General for Fisheries, which had at that point become Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, and the Directorate General for Environment attended the meeting. This is a new phenomenon in the sense that the Directorate General for Environment now has a strong say in this round of Structural Funds. The Directorate General for Fisheries would have liked to see some of axis four reflected in the available funding at that time, although that has since changed somewhat. It was satisfied with the operational programme, subject to some editorial adjustment.
The Directorate General for Environment, on the other hand, took a strong line. It effectively took the view at that point that it could not support grant aiding the development of aquaculture as proposed in the operational programme in a situation where Ireland had failed to implement various EU environmental directives. This was a new view which had not arisen in the operational programme process up to then. The Directorate General for Environment pointed to European court cases on habitats, the birds directives, dangerous substances directives and shellfish waters directives. These are broader cases across a whole range of areas. It took the view that it would not support an operational programme of grant aiding aquaculture in that context. That position was taken on board for consideration and there was a discussion on the best way to deal with the situation.
A revised operational programme was submitted to the Directorate General for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries for initial comments on 10 June and we are still awaiting a response. In the revised programme, the EFF funding and the co-funded measures have been dealt with by retaining the decommissioning programme of €32 million. At the moment, the measures retain the allocation for aquaculture development, but there are ongoing discussions with the industry and the Cawley seafood strategy implementation group. There was a meeting to discuss the operational programme as recently as last Thursday night in Donegal with the seafood strategy implementation group to ensure there was full stakeholder involvement. The issues arising from the operational programme were discussed openly along with the options for advancing it and whether to leave the aquaculture development co-funded element in the operational programme is a matter under active discussion. Axis three, dealing with measures on the environment and inshore management, remains and the possibility of including axis four on sustainable development of fisheries areas and the creation of coastal action groups was also included as a possibility.
Members will see this allocation is part of a total package of EU co-funding of €42 million, which is quite modest. The co-funded elements are only part of the suite of measures required to implement the overall Cawley integrated seafood development strategy. National measures, which would have to be funded fully from the Exchequer, would provide additional funding for fleet restructuring, fleet development, fuel efficiency, inshore diversification, etc. As for aquaculture development, the co-funded element does not match the current or historic level of funding provided to the aquaculture industry. Whether aquaculture development remains in the co-funded element can only ever be part of the picture. Obviously, aquaculture development is a high priority in the context of the Cawley seafood development strategy. The seafood industry training measures include three training schemes for the catching, aquaculture, processing and marketing sectors. The overall concept embodied in the Cawley strategy is for step-up development measures to restructure the seafood processing industry. The funding encourages an upward development of the companies in the processing sector. There is also the marketing investment measure. These are the nationally funded measures including market research, market development and promotion, innovation support, competitiveness and performance and finally socio-economic sustainability measures.