Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 27 January 2021
923. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the status of the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund; when details of the fund will be available to stakeholders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4498/21]
View answerIn June 2018, the European Commission published its proposals for a Regulation on the European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund for the 2021-27 period, as the successor to the present EMFF 2014-20. Following a period of negotiation in both the European Council and European Parliament, and subsequent trilateral negotiations between the co-legislators and Commission, agreement was reached in December 2020 on the Regulation. The Regulation is expected to be enacted by April 2021. Ireland is set to be allocated €142 million under the Fund and National co-funding is required.
The EMFAF, together with the Common Provisions Regulation, require Ireland to develop an Operational Programme, as a framework for the distribution of the Fund. In January 2020, my Department initiated the process of developing Ireland's new Seafood Development Programme 2021-27 with a public consultation process and a series of meetings with key stakeholders. A suite of SWOT and Needs Analyses were developed and my Department consulted again with stakeholders on these earlier in January through a day-long series of workshops with the interim Programme Monitoring Committee.
Work will continue on Programme development over the coming months, culminating in a final public consultation in the Summer and the final Programme document will then be submitted to the European Commission for its adoption. Individual support schemes will then be rolled out.
