I propose to take Questions Nos. 2097 and 2107 together.
On 12 May last I was pleased to launch the new €45 million Brexit Processing Capital Support Scheme. The scheme delivers on a recommendation of the Seafood Taskforce and offers grant rates of between 30% and 50% for capital investment in SME seafood processing enterprises, varying depending on the degree of value added of the project.
The scheme is designed to counter the adverse consequences of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union. It seeks to support the processing sector to engage in transformational change, mitigating the effects of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and Brexit, while also building more environmentally friendly, sustainable and competitive enterprises which serve the EU and wider global markets, create higher levels of employment more locally, and make better and more sustainable use of Irish landed or imported raw material. As the scheme is proposed for funding under the EU Brexit Adjustment Reserve this requires that investments are completed by 2023.
The scheme received State Aid clearance on the basis that it provides supports to SMEs only. This is consistent with the European Commission’s State Aid Guidelines which require consistency with the provisions of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Regulation (508/2014), which in turn restricts grant aid to the processing sector to SMEs only. Both article 69 of the EMFF Regulation for the 2014-20 period and article 28 of the new European Maritime Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund Regulation (2021/1139) for the 2021-27 period restrict grant supports for capital investment in seafood processing to SMEs. Support to non-SMEs is permitted only through financial instruments.
