Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 July 2020
653. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the EU funds allocated to Ireland from the European agriculture rural development fund in each of the years 2017 to 2020; the amount of unspent funding in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18836/20]
View answer€2,190,589,653 has been allocated to Ireland from the European Agriculture Rural Development Fund for the 2014-2020 Rural Development Programme. The funding is for the full period of the programme and under the "N+3" rule expenditure up to 2023 is eligible to be claimed against the 2014-2020 allocation.
While the Rural Development Programme Financial Plan sets out an indicative allocation of approximately €313m for each of the 7 years 2014-2020, where expenditure in a year is less than the indicative allocation the amount available for subsequent years of the programme is increased accordingly. Thus, the extent of unspent EU funds is measured more accurately at the end of the programming period rather than on an annual basis.
As per table 1 below, expenditure of EAFRD funds in 2017 was €22.4m less than the indicative allocation whereas, in 2018 and in 2019, it exceeded the indicative allocation by €22.7m and €25.9m respectively. Expenditure in the Jan-June 2020 period is almost €64m of the full year indicative allocation but the vast majority of the programmed spend will take place in the second half of the year.
Table 1 EAFRD for 2017-2020 €
|
|
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 (expenditure to end June 2020) |
|
Indicative allocation |
313,007,411 |
312,891,690 |
312,764,355 |
312,567,814 |
|
Claimed Expenditure |
290,583,175 |
335,621,514 |
338,680,234 |
63,971,876 |
|
Expenditure compared to indicative allocation |
-22,424,236 |
+ 22,729,824 |
+25,915,879 |
N/A |
