Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 June 2014
407. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine with regard to securing €148 million in EU funds for the seafood industry, the steps he will take to tackle unemployment in small coastal communities. [26612/14]
View answerThe EU Regulation establishing the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund was published on 20 May 2014. Following months of intense lobbying and negotiation, I announced on 12 June 2014 that I had secured €148 million from the new Fund for the period 2014 to 2020 for the development of the Irish seafood industry and the coastal communities that depend upon it. This funding is more than double the amount that was available to Ireland during the last Common Fisheries Policy and will ensure a strong seafood industry in Ireland that can grow and expand to meet its potential up to 2020. Ireland’s EMFF allocation is to be provided through 5 discrete funding envelopes, namely €71 million for investment in the seafood industry, €32 million for data collection, €37 million for control and enforcement, €5 million for implementation of the Integrated Maritime Policy, and €1.3 million for storage aid. I will be discussing with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in the near future Exchequer matching funding, having regard to the general budgetary situation for the coming years.
The EMFF Fund will provide support for our fishing fleet to meet the challenges of the new discards ban. It will support the development of the seafood processing sector, a sustainable aquaculture industry and the communities that depend on a vibrant seafood industry.
My Department has been working since 2013 on developing a new Operational Programme setting out the arrangements for spending Ireland’s allocation under the Fund and has engaged with stakeholders on a number of occasions to date. Further public consultation and strategic environmental assessment will take place over the summer 2014. The new Operational Programme must be submitted to the European Commission for adoption before the end of 2014.
Many investment measures that may be included within the new Operational Programme have the potential to contribute to job creation in peripheral coastal communities, including in particular capital grants to support growth and expansion of seafood processing and aquaculture enterprises and capital allocations to Fishery Local Action Groups for dispersal to projects within their coastal areas. Any allocation to these measures is subject to final decisions on overall priorities for the seafood sector and to ex-ante evaluation by independent consultants of the appropriateness of such measures.
