Skip to main content
Normal View

State Aid

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 March 2019

Tuesday, 5 March 2019

Questions (396)

Pearse Doherty

Question:

396. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the lobbying that was undertaken by him and-or other Ministers regarding recent changes by the European Commission to de minimis and state aid rules that will allow higher State payments to farmers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10527/19]

View answer

Written answers

I and my officials have been working very hard for quite some time to sensitise other Member States and the European Commission to the potentially very severe impacts of Brexit on the Irish agri-food and fisheries sectors, and to the likelihood of specific supports being required in order to deal with these impacts. The institutions of the European Union are very well aware of the likelihood of a significant impact of a disorderly Brexit on Ireland’s economy because this has been part of the discussion from the beginning, and indeed this is explicitly recognised in the Commission’s own communication on contingency planning.

Most recently, I held a bilateral meeting with Commissioner Hogan at the end of January to discuss the potential impact of a disorderly Brexit on the Irish agri-food and fisheries sectors. We discussed the unique exposure of these sectors to the threat of a disorderly Brexit, and the challenges that it could present. I stressed the need to be ready to deploy a range of measures to mitigate the potential impacts on farmers and processors, including through traditional market supports and exceptional aid under the CAP's Single Common Market Organisation regulation, as well as increased flexibility under State Aid regulations, which has already been the subject of discussions with the Commission. Commissioner Hogan reiterated the EU’s readiness to respond and support Ireland, and we will remain in contact on these issues as the situation evolves.

As regards state aid limits, my Department operates the State aid rules and regulations governing the agriculture sector, where the state aid limits under the agriculture de minimis regulation are currently set at €15,000 per undertaking over a rolling three year period.

In 2017, the European Commission commenced a review of the agriculture de minimis regulation. This review took place following calls from Member States, including Ireland, for the Commission to consider increasing the agriculture de minimis threshold limits.

As part of its review, the Commission launched an Inception Impact Assessment in 2017. It highlighted the fact that European farmers had been experiencing market difficulties across the different agricultural product sectors for the previous 3 years, which led several Member States to use agriculture de minimis aid to help farmers overcome temporary liquidity gaps. As a result, certain Member States were close to breaching their de minimis ceilings and requested an increase to those ceilings.

In 2018, the Commission consulted Member States and stakeholders to provide input by way of a Public Consultation on the revision of the de minimis rules. Those contributions were taken into account when the Commission was finalising the amendments to the Regulation. Officials from my Department contributed to this Public Consultation and also attended meetings of the Commission’s Advisory Committee on State Aid during 2018 where agreement on the new threshold limits was achieved.

I have said that the State will not be found wanting when it comes to supporting the Irish agri-food sector and farmers to deal with the impact of Brexit. The increase in the agriculture de minimis limits is a very important first step, and I very much welcome the recent announcement by the Commission that the threshold will increase from €15,000 up to €25,000 from 14 March 2019. This will allow for greater flexibility and efficiency, notably in times of crisis and situations demanding a swift response by the public authorities.

Top
Share