Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 29 November 2018
179. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of the ex ante assessment for the use of financial instruments within Ireland’s European agricultural fund for rural development and European Maritime and Fisheries Fund operational programmes; and if the final report has been submitted to the RDP monitoring committee. [49991/18]
View answerThe ex-ante assessment for the use of financial instruments within Ireland’s European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Operational Programmes has been completed and is available on the Department’s website at the following link:
https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/ruralenvironmentsustainability/ruraldevelopmentprogrammerdp2014-2020/.
The report involved a detailed evaluation of access to finance for enterprises in the agriculture and seafood sectors in Ireland and examined the required steps of an ex ante assessment as outlined in Article 37 (2) of EU Regulation 1303/2013.
The report was presented to the Rural Development Programme Monitoring Committee in September 2017. Following this, a written public consultation on the Ex-Ante Assessment was held to hear the views of stakeholders on the proposed use of Financial Instruments.
My Department has assessed the feedback from the RDP Monitoring Committee and considered the public consultation responses. It also considered the effect of the changes in the implementation of Financial Instruments following the adoption of EU Regulation 2017/2393 during this period. Work on this issue is ongoing; the Monitoring Committee will be updated on any developments.
